A Gravitation Nutcracker
by Pinkshuchan
Summary: Inspired by the ballet The Nutcracker. After Shuichi gets a nutcracker for Christmas, he gets himself tangled in a war between the nutcracker and the Mouse King. Will he be able to help the nutcracker defeat the Mouse King and return home safe and sound?
1. The Greatest Gift of All

**Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! My name is Pinkshuchan but you can call me Shu. I know that I'm in the process of two stories already but with Christmas coming by so quickly, I thought that I should write another story; a Christmas story. This one will be a Gravitation version of The Nutcracker. I thought that it would be interesting to make a Gravitation version of it. Now for the disclaimer. I don't Gravitation or The Nutcracker or anyone of their characters. Gravitation belongs to Maki Murakami and The Nutcracker belongs to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. I also don't own the song used in this chapter. Now, without further adieu, here is A Gravitation Nutcracker. Enjoy!**

Chapter 1

The Greatest Gift of All

Christmas; the most wonderful time of the year. A time when family and friends get together in glorious harmony. It is a time when people give presents to the ones they love and admire. Carols are sung from door to door spreading good cheer to the people and mistletoe are hung for couples to show their love through a kiss. This type of occurrence happens in almost every single country in the world, even Japan.

This is where our story begins; the story about a boy and a nutcracker.

It was Christmas Eve in Tokyo, Japan, and the snow was falling gently down through the city. There were people running around for last minute shopping before all the stores closed for the night and carollers finishing their rounds so they could go back home to their families. Deep within the city, there was a fancy house filled with the most magnificent lights and decorations. This was the house of one of the richest men in Tokyo, Tohma Seguchi. This Christmas Eve he decided he was going to invite his company's top band to his Christmas party and let them stay the night so they could join their boss and his family for Christmas dinner. His top band, Bad Luck, agreed to this as they knew that this would help them get a good reputation with their boss. That, and the keyboardist of Bad Luck, Suguru Fujisaki, was Tohma's cousin.

That night, Bad Luck went to their boss's house and sat in the living room with the fireplace warming the room and the Christmas tree sparkled with radiance with the ornaments and tinsel on its branches. K, the band's manager, was polishing his new magnum while Sakano, the band's producer, was trying to convince the band to be on their best behaviour, his hands trembling as he spoke to them. Hiroshi Nakano or Hiro as his friends call him, the band's guitarist, was tuning his acoustic guitar as he brought it in case they were to perform anything but still nodded. Suguru Fujisaki, the band's keyboardist as was mentioned before, was fully focused on everything being said and nodded. The only person not paying attention was the band's leader and singer.

Shuichi Shindo was a wonder. The band wouldn't have gotten as far as they had without Shuichi's leadership and determination. He was a small 18 year old boy with pink hair and big violet eyes and he was often mistaken for a woman, but that just added to his beauty. He was staring at the window, watching the snow falling to the ground, dreaming about love. He always saw couples being lovey dovey with each other during Christmas. All he wanted was the same. He wasn't even listening to what was going on around him until he felt a hand on his shoulder gently shake him. He looked over to see Hiro standing there.

"Shuichi, didn't you hear what Mr. Sakano said?" he asked, "He asked for us to be on our best behaviour."

Shuichi smiled his infamous grin. "Come on," he chuckled, "When _aren't_ I on my best behaviour?"

"Well, there was the time you ate all the pocky displayed for the NG party when it was supposed to be a present for the new employees." Hiro replied.

"And the time you got so drunk you threw up on Mr. Seguchi's best suit." Fujisaki added.

"And the time when you got so hyper you threw the microphone across the stage and set the clubhouse on fire," said Sakano, "Do you know how much it had cost to pay for the repairs?"

"And there was the time you blew up half of Tokyo!" K yelled.

Shuichi looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. "I admit that I've done all those other things but I'm sure I never blew up half of Tokyo."

K was confused for a bit until he remembered something and began laughing maniacally. "Oh, that's right!" he laughed, "That was _me_ that blew up half of Tokyo! HAHAHA! Silly me!" Everyone stared at him asking themselves why he was hired to be the manager.

It was then that Tohma walked in on them with five boxes of presents and his usual smile; the smile that says 'Do anything to anger me and I'll kill you and throw you out to be buried in the snow'. He walked to them, putting the boxes down first, and greeted them.

"Hey everyone," he spoke to them, "I'm glad that you could make it. I hope I didn't have to break your plans with your family just to join me."

"No, not at all," Shuichi responded as he shook Tohma's hand, "I'm sure our families understand that this is something for business. It's no big deal."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Tohma replied, "My wife would've been here to feel the same but she's in Kyoto visiting her father and little brother. Even with the Christmas Eve party it can be a lonely Christmas. That's why I decided to invite you all to stay for Christmas."

Shuichi smiled. "Well, we are honoured Mr. Seguchi."

Tohma nodded before he walked over to where he put the boxes. "With all that you've done for NG, I did my best to get you all the best presents I could get for you."

The five men looked nervous and waved their hands in front of them. "You didn't have to do that Mr. Seguchi!" Shuichi cried.

Their boss looked back at them and smiled. "But I wanted to," he replied, "It's the least I could do as your boss," He gave them each a box with different coloured wrapping and sat down in his chair after he was done. "Go ahead. Open them! I assure you that there's nothing that will kill you in them."

That's what they were worried about. Fujisaki was the first to open his as he knew that his cousin wouldn't do anything to him. He ripped off the dark blue paper with teddy bears on it and opened the box to see something that made his eyes widen with joy.

"OMIGOD!" he cried, "This is the collection of piano sheet music with all the pieces made by Chopin! This was the only one I needed to complete my collection of music from famous pianists! Thank you!"

This made the others curious of what might be inside theirs. K was the second to open his. He ripped off the plain red paper and opened the box only for his eyes to also widen. "WOW! This is the dart set I really wanted! Thanks Boss man!"

Everyone except for Tohma stared at K with raised eyebrows. "K, I didn't know you played darts." Hiro replied in awe.

K looked at them with an evil smirk. "Who said anything about using this for darts?"

Everyone decided to ignore K and continue opening presents. It was Sakano's turn. His hands were still trembling in worry that he might've been giving something awful from his boss. But he tried to open it anyway. If Fujisaki and K got good presents there shouldn't be any reason why he wouldn't. He ripped the green paper with candy canes on it and opened the box for his eyes to also widen with joy, except tears began to run down his cheeks.

"Mr. Seguchi," he cried, "This is the most beautiful gift anyone has ever given me. I always wanted a new suit with a matching Christmas style tie. THANK YOU MR. PRESIDENT!" He ran into Tohma's arms and began pouring his tears onto his boss. Tohma wrapped his arms around Sakano and began patting him on the back.

"There there Mr. Sakano," he tried to calm his subordinate down, "It's nothing to cry about. I only wanted to make my employees happy. Now please go back to your seat." The normally nervous man did as he was told and sat back down to his chair.

Hiro began to open his present. He ripped off the white wrapping paper with red polka dots and opened the box, giving the same reaction as the others. "Nice! I really needed a new coffee maker after _someone_ broke mine last week." He glared at Shuichi. Shuichi looked back at him before he started to avoid his glance and began whistling.

Tohma didn't pay any attention to Hiro's glare to Shuichi and just smiled. "I'm glad you like it Mr. Nakano," He looked over at Shuichi. "You're last Mr. Shindo."

Shuichi looked at his boss and nodded before looking down at the box. It was a beautiful box covered in gold wrapping paper with mistletoe on it but Shuichi didn't care about what was inside. There was only one thing he wanted the most for Christmas and that was to find true love. He knew that no nicely wrapped box could ever contain that. Still, he figured he could at least amuse his boss and open the present to see what he got him. His eyes widened at what he saw, but not in the same way as the others were.

There in the box was a nutcracker.

The nutcracker was in the form of a man and it was made of wood. His skin looked almost white as snow but his hair looked like it was actually _made_ of snow. He wore a red soldier's outfit with white pants and black boots and golden trimmings and on his head was a blue soldier's cap. His golden eyes were staring up at Shuichi, causing Shuichi to gaze deeply into them. Shuichi was beginning to think that he was given a wonderful present.

Everyone looked at Shuichi as the pink haired boy pulled the nutcracker out of the box. Hiro stood up and glared at Tohma. "Hey, what's the meaning of this Mr. Seguchi?" he yelled, "Why did you give Shuichi a nutcracker of all things?"

"I only gave you presents you all really desire, that's all," Tohma replied, "Suguru wanted that book filled with sheet music, Mr. K wanted the dart set, Mr. Sakano wanted that suit, and you wanted the coffee maker. It's no different for Mr. Shindo. What I have given him is the very thing that will make all his dreams come true."

K took the nutcracker out of Shuichi's hands. "Still, just think of the humiliation Bad Luck would get if anyone found out Shuichi has a doll," he explained as he placed it on the table before stepping back and pulling out his magnum. Shuichi ran and grabbed the nutcracker before it was shot.

"How could you!" Shuichi cried, "You all say that Mr. Seguchi gave me an awful present for Christmas but you didn't even ask me if I really hated him or not. Well let me tell you something guys; I love it! I think he really _is _the greatest gift I've ever had."

"But Mr. Shindo," Fujisaki spoke up, "Look at it! It looks ugly. It doesn't look like a good present at all."

Shuichi glared at the younger boy. "Not 'it', Fujisaki. 'Him!' And I think he's beautiful."

"Shindo, please!" it was Sakano's turn to speak up, "It's a doll made of wood."

"Even so, he's perfect," Shuichi replied, keeping his gaze on the nutcracker, "Nothing you can say can change my mind." The rest of the members of Bad Luck began to worry about their leader. Why was Shuichi so infatuated by a doll? They began to wonder if Shuichi had become too obsessed over the doll with the small amount of time he had with it. They knew they had to destroy it.

It was a good thing that Shuichi left it somewhere when the Christmas Eve party began. The only problem was that Shuichi hid it somewhere really good. They each took turns on looking in the house for the nutcracker so they didn't arouse any suspicions with all of them gone, but everywhere they looked, the nutcracker could not be found.

Once the party was over, Shuichi pulled the nutcracker out from its hiding place and sat down by the fire. Hiro and Fujisaki walked over to him in frustration. Shuichi looked at them with an innocent look and smiled.

"Hey guys!" he greeted, "Did you enjoy the party?"

Hiro and Fujisaki just glared at him. "Shuichi, honestly," Hiro sighed, "Why are so obsessed over that nutcracker?"

"I'm not obsessed over him," said Shuichi, "I just feel like maybe I found someone I really love and that's Yuki."

The two instrumentalists stared in worry. "He even _named_ it!" they muttered as they began to walk away. Shuichi didn't even pay attention. He was too busy looking at his nutcracker or Yuki as he called it. He looked deep into the nutcracker's eyes and smiled.

"I'm really sorry about them Yuki," he apologized, "They're actually really nice. They just don't get what I like about you. The truth is… when I look into your eyes, I don't see some nutcracker. Instead, I see someone great and wonderful, someone that would be admired by many. I see someone who's like a prince.

"I hope you aren't too angry at them Yuki. I bet that once you all get to know each other you might get along. I don't care what they say; I think you, with your love, are the greatest gift of all… … Hey! That's reminds me of a song. That's if you don't mind me singing. I don't want to sing if you don't want me to."

It was then that Shuichi saw something extraordinary. For a moment, he thought he saw the nutcracker's eye sparkle. And then he saw that it was smiling at him. Shuichi in return smiled softly back. "Okay!" he replied, "I'll sing to you." Shuichi stood up with the nutcracker in his arms and began to dance as he began to sing.

_Shuichi_

_It's not the flowers wrapped in fancy paper_

_It's not the ring wrapped around my finger_

_There's nothing in the world I need_

_When you're here beside me, here beside me._

_So you could give me wings to fly_

_And catch me if I fall_

_Or pull the stars down from the sky_

_So I could wish on them all_

_But I couldn't ask for more_

'_Cause your love is the greatest gift of all._

Shuichi looked deep into the nutcracker's eyes as he continued dancing. He felt like the nutcracker might be alive but was trying to hide it. He didn't care though. He loved the nutcracker too much to think that there was something wrong with it.

_Shuichi_

_In your arms, I found a strength inside me_

_And in your eyes, there's a light to guide me_

_I would be lost without you_

_And all that my heart could ever want has come true._

_So you could give me wings to fly_

_And catch me if I fall_

_Or pull the stars down from the sky_

_So I could wish on them all_

_But I couldn't ask for more_

'_Cause your love is the greatest gift of all._

Shuichi sat on the couch with the nutcracker still in his arms. He really believed that he was in love with the nutcracker. People may find him weird but he didn't care. Love was the only thing he could feel as he stared into the nutcracker's golden eyes.

_Shuichi_

_You could offer me the sun, the moon_

_And I would still believe_

_You gave me everything_

_When you gave your heart to me._

_But I couldn't ask for more_

'_Cause your love is the greatest gift of all._

_You could give me wings to fly_

_And catch me if I fall_

_Or pull the stars down from the sky_

_So I could wish on them all_

_But I couldn't ask for more_

'_Cause your love is the greatest gift of all._

_Your love is the greatest gift of all_

_The greatest gift of all._

Shuichi yawned before he laid his head on one of the pillows resting on one of the arms of the couch before falling into a deep sleep; his nutcracker still held in his arms.

**Pinkshuchan: Well, what did you guys think of the first chapter? There will be more chapters coming up soon. I will be trying to finish this story before Christmas, thus the reason why I started it really early. Anyways, the song used in this chapter is Greatest Gift of All by Jim Brickman. Read and Review everybody!**


	2. Nutcracker March

**Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! Hey everyone! Pinkshuchan here! I'm glad you are all enjoying A Gravitation Nutcracker so far. Last chapter only had Shuichi obtaining the nutcracker, but the story is going to be a lot more interesting from here. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 2

Nutcracker March

It was already late on Christmas Eve and everybody got ready for bed except for Shuichi who already fell asleep on the couch with the nutcracker in his arms. It seemed like it would be an ordinary night, but that was not going to be the case. The moment the clock struck midnight, a little mouse hole near the corner of the wall began to glow and magic began pouring out. The magic began floating around the entire room, especially near the nutcracker. The moment the magic got near the nutcracker, his golden eyes began to blink. He looked around before trying to get himself out of Shuichi's arms.

He was trying and failing miserably.

He groaned. "Dammit!" he muttered, "Why… is it so hard… to get out… of this?" He eventually managed to get himself out and fell to the floor. Fortunately for him, he didn't break. Once he stood up and dusted himself, he stepped back and looked into the face of the one that took care of him and kept him safe. It appeared to be the face of a beautiful young woman with short pink hair that framed her heart shaped face, making it seem to glow. The nutcracker felt like he could look at her for eternity until he heard something coming out of the mouse hole.

Coming out of the hole was an army of mice. They were dressed in armour and carried swords and spears with them. Once they all came out, they cleared the way for one more mouse. But this mouse was different from the other mice. While the other mice had grey fur and were wearing armour, this mouse had black fur and wore a long violet cape and a golden crown. In its paw was a golden sceptre with a ruby at the top. The moment the mouse saw the nutcracker, it growled.

"YOU!" the mouse yelled, "I thought you were rid of for good."

The nutcracker snickered. "Right, like I would easily surrender to anyone. Especially to a mouse," he replied, "That's never going to happen."

"I am no ordinary mouse! I am Taki the Mouse King! You will regret the day you crossed paths with me Nutcracker!" The Mouse King faced his mouse soldiers and pointed at the nutcracker. "Soldier, attack the nutcracker!"

The mouse soldiers did as was told and began charging at the nutcracker. The nutcracker didn't know how he could fend them off until he heard a whistle. Hidden in some of the boxes were toy soldiers who had come to help. One of them tossed a sword over to the nutcracker and followed his fellow soldiers to fight the mouse soldiers. The nutcracker, on the other hand, went to fight the Mouse King.

The battle seemed somewhat even between the toy soldiers and the mice. One of the toy soldiers would fall then one of the mice would fall. Yet no matter how many of each side would fall, the main battle was between the nutcracker and the Mouse King. The nutcracker's sword kept clashing with the sceptre of the Mouse King. With all the commotion they were making, it caused Shuichi to wake up.

Shuichi got up and looked around the room as soon as he opened his eyes, but he couldn't believe the sight that was in front of him on the floor near the Christmas tree. His nutcracker was fighting a mouse! He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't imagining things and looked back at where he saw the fight. They were still there fighting. He watched them fight, clashing weapons against each other, until the mouse decided to play dirty.

"You really think you can defeat me Nutcracker?" said the mouse, "Take this!" With his sceptre, he moved one of the presents under the tree and used it to knock the nutcracker off his feet. With what happened, it seemed like the mouse had the advantage. "HAHAHA! I win Nutcracker!"

The mouse was about to finish the nutcracker with his sceptre until he felt something hit him in the back. He turned around to see what looked like a young girl with short pink hair and the most gorgeous big violet eyes with perfectly curved eyelashes framing them walking over to him.

"Stay away from my nutcracker you evil rodent!" Shuichi snapped but not loud enough to wake anyone in the house.

The mouse smirked. "So, you want to take his place huh?" He raised his sceptre so it pointed at Shuichi. "Well then, that can be arranged!"

The nutcracker didn't want the one who saved him multiple times to get killed by the Mouse King, so before the mouse could do anything, he grabbed onto the sceptre and tried to point it away from Shuichi. This caused the magic of the sceptre to hit and reflect on other objects. Little did the nutcracker realize that even though the magic didn't hit Shuichi directly, it still hit him after being reflected on the other objects. Shuichi then disappeared, leaving nothing but his clothes on the ground.

The mouse released himself from the nutcracker's grasp the moment he saw that the wooden soldier was too focused on Shuichi's disintegration. He faced the nutcracker and snickered. "Do you have any last words Nutcracker?"

The nutcracker smirked. "Actually, yeah I do," he replied, "Sayonara!"

The Mouse King didn't get what the nutcracker meant until he saw the nutcracker pull on one of the tree branches, causing one of the ornaments to fall on the mouse's head. The Mouse King was then knocked out. The mouse soldiers ran to the aid of their king and carried him back through the mouse hole, disappearing in the darkness.

As for the nutcracker, he moved away from the Christmas tree and walked towards where Shuichi had stood before the magic hit him and where his clothes remained. The nutcracker then went to his knees and began to pray.

"Rest in peace," the nutcracker began, "Your death will not be in vain. For-" Before he could continue, he saw something moving in the pile of cloths before him. After a bit, something came out of the hole.

It was Shuichi, who was now the size of a mouse.

"What do you know?" the nutcracker replied, "You're alive… and small… and naked... and a guy."

Shuichi was confused until he saw everything around him and down. He was indeed naked as he sat on his clothes which were now way too big for him. Shuichi squeaked before he pulled what amount of material he could to cover himself.

"How did this happen?" he panicked, "There's no way I'm the size of a mouse! It's impossible. This is obviously some nightmare and the moment I pinch myself, I'll wake up normal sized and fully clothed." He did just as he said and no such luck. He was still small and naked, hiding his nude as much as he could in what _was_ his clothes.

The nutcracker just shook his head. "Whatever," he replied, "I'm going." He was about to walk away until he heard the pink haired boy call over to him.

"Wait Yuki!" he cried, "Please don't leave me here! I need clothes! Please!"

The nutcracker really wanted to ignore the boy and leave him alone, but he knew he couldn't. Man or woman, Shuichi was still the one saved his life. He did kind of owe him. He sighed. "I'll see what I can find."

Shuichi sat still as he waited for the nutcracker to find him some clothes. After a while, the nutcracker came back with something, which he claimed was the only thing he could find. When he raised it up so it could be fully shown, Shuichi could not believe what it was.

"Are you kidding me?" he snapped, "A ballerina's tutu? You couldn't find any guy's clothes?"

"Well you could go look yourself if you don't want the tutu," the nutcracker replied in a cold voice, "This was the only thing I could find and I'm sure it would be refreshing for you to walk around, exposing yourself for everyone to see."

Shuichi glared at him before stretching his hand to the nutcracker. "Give me the tutu!" he growled. The nutcracker complied and gave the ballerina dress to the pink haired boy. The latter was still glaring at him.

"What now?" the nutcracker groaned.

"Turn around!" said Shuichi, "I don't want you to watch me change."

The nutcracker snorted. "You really care if a _nutcracker_ watches you put a tutu on? Especially since you're a guy yourself?"

Shuichi blushed but still glared at him. "TURN AROUND!" he snapped.

The wooden man sighed and turned around. "Whatever." While the nutcracker kept his back facing Shuichi, the pink haired boy slipped into the tutu. It humiliated him more with the fact that it fit him perfectly, even the slippers that came with the tutu. Once he put it all on, he walked over to the silver ornament that hung low on the tree and looked at himself.

He was wearing a light pink romantic tutu over a light pink sparkly bodice with spaghetti straps and white leggings with light pink ballet slippers over top. He blushed at the sight. He always knew that he had a really feminine appearance since he had had boys flirt on him thinking he was a girl. But he never thought he looked a lot like a girl until he saw himself in the reflection while wearing the tutu. He seriously looked like a flat chested girl with his heart shaped face and his petite figure. He couldn't stop looking at himself until he heard what sounded like the nutcracker's footsteps. He turned around to see that the nutcracker was walking over to a mouse hole.

"Where are you going?" he asked as he began to follow him.

"I'm heading back to my home," he replied, "I need to see what had happened to it during the time I had been away. That bastard of a mouse did something, I'm sure of it."

"Well then take me with you!"

The nutcracker stopped, causing Shuichi to bump into him and fall to the ground. He faced the pink haired boy. "And just why the hell would I take you with me?"

Shuichi stood up and dusted himself off before responding. "Well, you would've been turned into firewood if I didn't do anything to help. And there had been moments when my friends and co-workers wanted to destroy you or at least get rid of you somewhere which may have destroyed you. But I managed to outsmart them and I managed to keep you safe. In a way, you owe me for your life. And the best way to repay me is to take me to your world and help me find a way to change me back. Remember, I was way taller than this before that mouse shrunk me."

"My answer is still no."

Shuichi didn't know what he was gonna do about getting the nutcracker to let him come with him. But then he had an idea. He didn't have feminine looks just to be pretty. Before the nutcracker got too far, Shuichi caught up to him and turned him around before leaning his body close to his, fluttering his eyelashes in the process.

"Oh come on now Yuki," he spoke to the nutcracker in a flirting tone, "You're not _really_ going to go by yourself and leave little ol me alone to pine are you?"

The nutcracker snorted. "Nice try," he replied, "I've had so many girls flirt with me that I've now become immune to any flirting whatsoever."

Shuichi backed away with a step. "You've had girls flirt with you? Do I really need to know how?"

"Well, it wouldn't make any difference since I still stand by my answer."

The pink haired boy growled. "Fine, we'll have to do this the hard way; I'm going to have to use violence!" He punched the nutcracker only to find out that it wasn't such a smart move. He ended up hurting his hand more than he hurt the nutcracker. He screamed at the top of his lungs that it hurt. His hand really felt like it was on fire.

The nutcracker smirked before he gave a gentle tap on his head. "I'm wood, remember?"

This got Shuichi really frustrated and he fell to his knees. "THAT'S NOT FAIR YUKI!" he cried, "YOU'RE IMMUNE TO FLIRTING AND I CAN'T USE VIOLENCE ON YOU! I WANNA GO WITH YOU! I WANNA GO! I WANNA GO! I WANNA GO!"

The nutcracker placed his wooden hand over the pink haired boy's mouth to stop him from screaming. "Stop screaming!" he growled with his teeth clenched, "If I take you with me will you shut up?" Shuichi, unable to speak with the nutcracker's hand over his mouth, nodded enthusiastically. The nutcracker sighed before removing his hand from the boy's mouth. "Alright, then you can come!"

"Really?" Shuichi cried, his eyes sparkling with joy, "YAY!" He clasped his hands over his mouth. "Sorry, I'm shutting up now."

"Let's go before I change my mind."

"Alright! I'm ready to go when you are Yuki!"

The nutcracker raised an eyebrow. "Why do you keep calling me Yuki?"

Shuichi shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's because you look and act like a Yuki. Besides, I doubt you'd really want to be called Nutcracker all the time."

The nutcracker thought about it before giving a reply. "Fine, you can call me Yuki. At least it isn't a name far more stupid than Yuki."

The pink haired boy nodded. "And you can call me Shuichi!"

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaa no. I don't think so."

"Aww! Why not?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Just because!"

"Tell me why!"

The nutcracker, now Yuki, glared at Shuichi and pointed to the mouse hole. "Get into the mouse hole before there's a murder here!"

Shuichi looked at the mouse hole before looking back at Yuki. "You want me to go in _there_? But what if I manage to get myself back to normal size while I'm in there? I could suffocate! I could die! I could-!"

Before Shuichi could continue ranting, Yuki moved behind him and pushed him into the mouse hole before following after, unaware of what was to happen to them.

**Pinkshuchan: Hehe! Well, Shuichi and Yuki have met officially now. What kind of trouble will they get themselves into? Read and Review!**


	3. The Land of Sweets

**Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! Hi everyone! I'm Pinkshuchan here with the next chapter of A Gravitation Nutcracker. Last chapter, Shuichi shrunk to the size of a mouse and had no choice but to wear a ballerina tutu. Now, along with Yuki the nutcracker, he went through a mouse hole leading to the place Yuki is headed. What is beyond the mouse hole? Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 3

The Land of Sweets

Shuichi was pushed into the mouse hole by Yuki and ended up falling. He didn't know why he was falling. Surely mouse holes didn't have parts in them that made the mice fall. But yet Shuichi felt like he was falling the same way Alice did when she followed the White Rabbit into the rabbit hole. He fell until he landed face first into something soft. When he looked up, he saw himself in some sort of giant cave.

It looked very unusual. The cave had walls that looked like it was made of ice and the ground below him looked like snow. The only thing that was weird about it was that the air around him and the snow below didn't feel cold. When he picked up a handful of the snow, it wasn't all in a clump and it felt soft against his fingers, almost like a powder. Feeling curious, he brought the snow close to his lips and tasted it with his tongue. It tasted like sugar. He tasted it again. It _was_ sugar. The snow was sugar!

He then heard something about to come down again. Not sure what would happen, he quickly ran out of the spot he was sitting just in time for the nutcracker to fall down face first to that spot like the pink haired boy did. Yuki raised his head and spit the sugar snow out of his mouth. He rolled around so he was lying on his back before he began looking around.

"Damn!" he cursed, "I dropped my sword."

Shuichi just stood there until he saw something shining in the sugar snow. It looked like a sword. He figured it was Yuki's sword. He went to grab it until he saw something hanging onto it and screamed. Yuki looked at him in surprise.

"What is it?" he asked in curiosity.

"There's an arm on the sword!" Shuichi cried.

The nutcracker didn't look scared at all. In fact, he looked relieved. "Ah, so _that's_ where my arm went!" he replied as he walked over to the frightened boy, "I was wondering where it got itself to." He grabbed the arm off the sword and attached it to where it was supposed to be. Shuichi felt a little disturbed, even though the nutcracker was made of wood and everything. He then looked around.

"So where are we Yuki?" he asked.

The nutcracker looked around. "Well, judging by the snow and the walls, I'm guessing that we're inside the Sugar Cave."

"The Sugar Cave?"

"Yes. One of the many wonders of the Land of Sweets."

Shuichi began looking around. "Well I can see why. This place is beautiful."

"But it's also very dangerous," Yuki added, "I would advise not doing anything to get us in danger."

The pink haired boy grinned at him. "Oh come on!" he chuckled, "What can I possibly do to get us in danger?"

Yuki chose to ignore that and looked around. "From what I see here, we are deep within the cave," He then looked in the direction of a path. "I'm guessing that's the way out of the cave." He began to walk to the tunnel while Shuichi was too focused with how beautiful the cave looked. Once he saw the nutcracker almost disappearing he ran after him.

"Hey! Wait for me!" he cried, trying to catch up to the wooden soldier. He couldn't seem to run properly but he guessed it was either the sugar snow or the ballet slippers he was wearing. He managed to catch up anyway. Yuki looked like he was too focused on looking around the place for a proper exit.

That was when they saw something that Shuichi could not believe his eyes to.

Two tiny creatures were playing around in the snow. They looked like polar bear cubs but with a horn on their foreheads that look like sugar cones. They were rolling all over in the snow and tackling each other. Shuichi's eyes sparkled from the cuteness of the creatures. He was about to walk forward until he felt Yuki's wooden hand grab his arm.

"Don't!" he told the pink haired boy, "These are sugar cone bear cubs. It would be a good idea to stay away from them."

Shuichi was about to listen to him until one of them ran over to him and looked up at him with big round black eyes. The pink haired boy couldn't resist looking at those eyes. Yuki began to burn with rage and worry.

"What are you doing? We need to leave now!" he yelled.

The pink haired boy looked at the nutcracker. "C'mon Yuki," he called to him in a swooning voice, "Just look at them. They're so adorable! And this one looks like it wants to play with me."

The cub began playfully running around in a circle before lying down on the snow on its back. Shuichi began to rub its belly, noticing that the cub was enjoying it. Yuki's anger and fear was increasing the more time the pink haired boy spends with the cubs.

"I'm serious," he hissed, "We need to leave now!" But Shuichi didn't listen. Instead he just continued playing with the cubs. After a bit, the cubs began running away. Shuichi began following them with Yuki behind him only to bump into the very thing Yuki feared.

Right in front of them was what looked like a giant polar bear that was twice Yuki's height with a horn on its head similar to the cubs. It growled at them, exposing white fangs with what looked like blood dripping down. Shuichi squeaked before he ran behind the nutcracker.

"Yuki?" he spoke as he trembled, "Wh-What is that?"

"That," Yuki pointed out while also trembling, "Is the mother."

"You serious? That is one giant bear."

"Yes, and there's only one thing we can do now."

"Run?"

"Oh yeah!"

They didn't hesitate to run away. They ran as fast as they could to get away from the bear but it kept catching up to them. It was a good thing they managed to find tunnels with corners so there were times when the bear would crash for a bit. It was hard to properly run in the cave so the bear had the advantage. This didn't look good for the pink haired boy in the ballerina tutu and the nutcracker.

"What do we do?" Shuichi cried as he and Yuki ran, "How can we get away from the bear?"

"If we can find the way in and out of the cave we'll be safe," Yuki replied, "Sugar cone bears can't leave the Sugar Cave or they'll die."

"But we don't know where the exit is! The bear might get us if we try to look."

Yuki knew that Shuichi's words were true. It would be a very rare occurrence if they could find the exit while being chased by a giant bear. It wasn't until he saw what was ahead that he had an idea. He grabbed Shuichi and jumped, for what was in front of them was a cliff. He jumped with Shuichi in his arms and grabbed onto a long icicle that was hanging on the ceiling. There was another bunch of icicles in front of them that led to the other side.

The nutcracker looked over at Shuichi. "Okay, I need you to climb onto my back and hold onto my waist," he told the boy. "Think you can do that?"

Shuichi nodded before he broke himself free from Yuki's grasp and tried climbing to the nutcracker's back. However, there wasn't a proper place that Shuichi could grab to help him keep hold and he ended up falling. He fell until he managed to grab Yuki's foot which in turn almost made Yuki let go of the icicle. He looked down at the boy dangling on his foot and growled.

"You idiot!" he yelled, "I said to grab my waist, not my foot. There's a big difference!" He sighed. "Oh well! I have an idea to help us both get across." He began swinging his leg back and forth with Shuichi on it until his leg jumped across with Shuichi. Shuichi flew with Yuki's leg in his possession until he crashed into a wall on the other side. He then slid down until he reached the ground.

Shuichi began to cry. "Aww, why am I being treated as the comic relief character?" He then saw Yuki jumping from one icicle to the other until he made it. Of course, because he only had one foot on his person he fell onto his knees the moment he reached the other side. Shuichi hurried to Yuki's side and helped put the foot back onto his leg.

"Can you walk on it?" he asked in concern.

"It's not like it's broken," Yuki replied, "I'll be able to walk just fine."

The pink haired boy helped the nutcracker up before they looked at the mother bear on the other side. "You sure she can't get us?" he asked.

"Of course," the nutcracker assured him, "Sugar cone bears can't grab onto the icicles to get to us."

But Yuki was about to be stood corrected when he saw the mother smack her paw onto the ground, causing an small earthquake strong enough to break the icicles and some of the snow on the ceiling, creating a path for her to walk on.

"But they can do _that_!" Yuki added. Planning not to waste any time, they began running through the tunnel on their side of the ditch with the bear still chasing them. Shuichi began to wish that he was back at home where he was safe and sound and not wearing a tutu while running away from a giant polar bear with a sugar cone for a horn along with the nutcracker he got for Christmas.

But things were about to get worse.

The tunnel that they were running through led to a river. They were now trapped between the river and the bear. They needed a plan to escape. That's when Yuki had another idea. With his sword, he stabbed the ice in front of him, causing it to crack and separate himself and Shuichi away from the bear. The bear didn't jump after them and just roared at them. Shuichi was confused.

"What's going on?" he asked, "Why isn't she chasing after us by swimming or something?"

"She's a sugar cone bear," Yuki replied, "She's made of the sugar in the cave so she would turn into a million tiny pieces if she jumped in after us. That doesn't mean she's edible to eat though," He sighed. "And what did I tell you? I told you not to do anything to get us in danger. What do you do? Get us in danger by playing with the sugar cone bear cubs. You-!" Before Yuki could continue his rant, he turned around only to have Shuichi rush into his arms. The nutcracker was confused. "You idiot! What are you doing?" It was then that he felt his wooden shoulder get wet.

Shuichi was crying in his arms.

"I was so scared," the pink haired boy sobbed, "I was afraid that we were going to be eaten by that bear. I wanna go home! I wanna go home!"

Normally, Yuki wouldn't want to comfort anyone that was suffering from… well, anything. But seeing Shuichi in the state he was, the nutcracker felt his chest tighten with watching the boy cry. He put his arm around the boy's waist and just pat him on the back. Shuichi began to slowly calm down and eventually fell asleep in Yuki's arms. The nutcracker looked at the boy's sleeping face and just couldn't stop feeling something beat in his chest. He shook his head in anger with himself. No matter how beautiful Shuichi looked, he was still a guy. He then began going berserk. With the hand that wasn't holding onto Shuichi, he began smacking himself in the head. Too bad his head was made of wood for the sound woke Shuichi up.

"Yuki?" Shuichi questioned him in a dreary state, "What are you doing?"

"Just… go back to sleep!" Yuki replied, trying to hide his blushed face.

Shuichi just complied and rested his head on Yuki's shoulder. "You smell like pine!" he muttered.

That surprised the nutcracker. "You idiot!" he growled in a soft voice, "Why would you say something random like that?" The pink haired boy didn't answer for he already fell back asleep in Yuki's arms.

The rest of the time floating on a chunk of ice on the river in the Sugar Cave was quiet for not a word was spoken. It didn't last for long though for Shuichi woke up to a strong scent that smelled like peppermint. He got up from Yuki's arms and looked ahead to see a bright light followed by silhouettes of pine trees. Looking around, Shuichi noticed that it was the pine trees that gave the strong scent of peppermint. And after passing the trees did Shuichi see the most remarkable sight.

He saw a place filled with so much green and blue around them. Bright colours surrounded them as they continued floating on the river. Shuichi couldn't believe the sight he was seeing. What started off as a nightmare changed into a beautiful dream right in front of his own eyes. Maybe being here at this place wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Yuki had noticed Shuichi's eyes gazing at his surroundings and smirked. "You like it?" he asked, "This is the Land of Sweets; my home."

Shuichi had the urge to stand up from where he was and to look at the world from a higher perspective, but shook his head against it in thought that he could tip the ice they were on. But Shuichi looked down to see something bad happening, turning the beautiful dream back into a nightmare.

"Yuki?" he spoke up, "Is the ice supposed to melt this quickly?"

Yuki looked around to see that the ice was indeed melting at a rapid pace. There was no land that they could jump to and the river's current was too strong to swim. They didn't know what to do until Shuichi thought of something.

"I have an idea!" he announced, "Yuki, lie on your back!"

The nutcracker looked at him like he was crazy. "You want me to do what?"

"Trust me! I have a feeling this will work."

He didn't know what the pink haired boy had planned but laid on his back anyways. Shuichi then sat on top of him. This made the nutcracker really think the boy was insane. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Trust me Yuki!" Shuichi kept repeating himself. The ice continued to melt until there was nothing left. Yuki closed his eyes and expected that they were going to sink until he felt the water brush against his back and his arms were pulled off of their sockets. He opened them to see that he was floating in the water with Shuichi on top of him, using the nutcracker's arms as oars. This did not please the wooden soldier.

"What the hell!" he screamed, "What are you doing?"

Shuichi smirked at him. "I'm calling it payback for when you swung me across to the other side of that ditch and smacking me against the wall."

"That was because I was trying to save our lives."

"And now _I've_ saved our lives so I'd call it even. But you know, you make a good raft."

"Shut up!" the nutcracker growled as Shuichi continued rowing them to whatever land they are able to find. Who knows what more encounters would happen here in the Land of Sweets for the boy in the tutu and the nutcracker and only fate could determine whether they would be good or bad.

**Pinkshuchan: That was quite an eventful chapter wasn't it? Indeed, what more was going to happen to Shuichi and Yuki in the Land of Sweets? Please Read and Review everyone!**


	4. Field of Flowers

**Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! Hey everyone! Pinkshuchan here and I have the next chapter of A Gravitation Nutcracker with me. What will happen to Yuki and Shuichi now? Surely it won't be worse that the sugar cone bear, right? Well it depends on this chapter. Here it is! Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

Field of Flowers

It was getting close to night time in the Land of Sweets and Shuichi and Yuki were still floating on the river. Shuichi, sitting on Yuki and using him as a raft, was rowing them to the closest land they could get to. Good thing they managed to find some land before they reached any waterfalls. Once they got to the land, Shuichi got off first, then with all his strength, he pulled Yuki up. The entire trip left them exhausted; Shuichi because he was rowing them to the land, and Yuki because his arms were being used as the oars.

They decided to camp out for the night, although they agreed on no campfires due to Yuki being wood himself. As they sat at their campsite, Shuichi had so many questions about the Land of Sweets and about Yuki himself. After all, they barely knew each other and if they were going to continue travelling together they needed to know more about each other. Once they were fully relaxed, Shuichi popped the question out.

"Yuki, can you please tell me more about yourself and the Land of Sweets?" he asked the nutcracker. Upon realizing how he asked, he blushed and tried to keep his gaze off the wooden soldier. "Sorry if that came out too strong."

Yuki just sighed. "No, it's fine," he replied, "Anyone would get curious if there's something that pops out at them. To tell you the truth, there's nothing about me that would be interesting to you. However, I can tell you about the Land of Sweets."

Shuichi looked back at him and nodded enthusiastically. "Yes please!" The nutcracker began telling the story of the Land of Sweets.

"The Land of Sweets is a world far different from where you live. There are so many delicious treats you could eat and you would never get fat or get a heart attack. People loved it here so much that they decided to live here. A king from a land close by wanted a worthy man to rule the Land of Sweets. That man would then have the honour of marrying his eldest daughter. The challenge he gave them was a task so great that it was too much for even the toughest and strongest warriors in the land."

"What did they do?" Shuichi asked excitedly, leaning closer to Yuki, "Did they have to slay a powerful candy monster like the sugar cone bear? Did they have to travel the entire land?"

"Nope. They had to break the toughest nut in the world with their jaw."

The pink haired boy sat back in his seat. "That's it? Break a nut with their jaw? That sounds nuts, no pun intended."

"I think it sounds stupid too but that was what was requested. Many had tried and failed to break the nut with their jaws. Most even broke their teeth because they tried really hard. The king felt like there would be no one to become the king of the Land of Sweets until one day, the eldest son of the king's trusted toymaker came and managed to break the nut with his jaw. The king was so pleased that he gave the young man the Land of Sweets to rule and his beautiful daughter to marry.

"Generation to generation, there would always be an eldest son to rule over the Land of Sweets and every eldest son from the first king's family would be given the same type of jaw he had to win his kingdom. Because of their greatness over the land, they were always blessed with the power of the being that guided the Land of Sweets. He refused to call himself the ruler. In face, it was him that told the king of the other country to find the young man that could break the nut with his jaw to become this land's king. This being was considered to be a god that watched the land. He is…!" Yuki slapped himself. "Dammit!"

This confused Shuichi. "What is it?"

"Why didn't I think of this before? _He_ has the power to make everything right. I've never met him, but with everything I've heard about him I'm sure he can set things right."

"Who are you talking about?"

"The Sugarplum Kuma!"

Shuichi just stared at him. "Okay, you've lost me."

Yuki pulled out a piece of paper and showed it to Shuichi. "I know, the script doesn't make any sense at all but we gotta go along with it," He crumpled it up and threw it away. "If we summon the Sugarplum Kuma here, he could help us with our problems, like for example, help me defeat that mouse."

It looked like Shuichi understood now, for a smile was plastered over his face. "So he could send my back home my regular size?"

"Possibly," the nutcracker replied, "But in order to know for sure, we need to summon him. There is a special method in order to summon him so we must do it for him to come before him."

And so, Yuki began to summon the Sugarplum Kuma by chanting, which when you think about it, it isn't special at all. But the nutcracker chanted anyway in order to get the Sugarplum Kuma to come to them. Once he finished chanting, he and Shuichi awaited for the one to help them.

But the Sugarplum Kuma was no where to be seen.

Yuki stayed up and waited as he cannot sleep because he's a nutcracker while Shuichi went to sleep. All night, the nutcracker waited for the Sugarplum Kuma to come to him but he never came. When morning came, he began to think that the Sugarplum Kuma didn't really exist. All those stories he had heard about the Sugarplum Kuma couldn't be true. Shuichi noticed this too as soon as he woke up. Realizing that it was a waste of time to wait, they decided to keep going. They didn't know where exactly they were going, but Shuichi really wanted to continue on so he could see more of the Land of Sweets.

They walked until they had reached a crossroad with paths made of graham crackers. Upon reaching it, they didn't know which path to take. Shuichi suggested Eenie Meenie Miney Mo. Yuki felt like that was stupid. They argued until a voice spoke to them.

"You are trying to decide which path to take?"

They turned back to the crossroads to see an old woman standing there. Most of her face was hidden under the hood of her black cloak but it was definitely an old woman's face with her crooked nose and her silver hair, her hands were covered by the sleeves, and the cloak reached the ground. She looked at them with curiosity.

"You're not sure which path to take," she continued, "But the better question to ask would be 'Which path is the safest to take?'"

The nutcracker looked at the old woman in disbelief. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"There are two paths to take, one more dangerous than the other. Can you choose the safest path to take?"

"We don't even know which one could be the safest path," Shuichi replied, "Can you help us with which way to go?"

"Since you seem so desperate to know, I shall tell you. The path on your left leads to the Forest of Death," Right after she said that, the forest appeared before them with screams of terror and pain and blood was gushing out. That just shocked and somewhat scared them. "And the path on your right leads to the Field of Flowers." Like with the forest, the field appeared with all its beauty. The choice was obvious.

"We're gonna go with the second one." Yuki replied. They began walking to the path on the right, ignoring the maniacal laughter of the old woman behind them. They were starting to wonder if they chose the right path.

After a bit of walking, they made it to the Field of Flowers. It looked absolutely beautiful. They didn't even know why this place could be far more dangerous than the Forest of Death. But then they found a sign close to the edge of the field. It read:

**This is the Field of Flowers. Only those as light as a feather can pass through here.**

"'Only those as light as a feather can pass through here'?" Yuki mocked the sign, "What could be so dangerous about passing through and not being 'as light as a feather'?" Well, Yuki got his answer the moment he tried to make a step for the moment he stepped in the field, the ground below where he stepped collapsed, making a bottomless pit. It was a good thing the nutcracker pulled his foot away before it fell with it.

"I guess those flowers must be really delicate!" Shuichi answered in awe.

Yuki growled. "How can we get past here if we're not as light as a feather? What does it want us to do? Dance?"

That got Shuichi thinking. "Dance? Wait! That's it! Ballet!"

This confused the nutcracker. "Ballet? What does ballet have to do with this?"

"Well, with ballet you have to be really graceful when you move, and you need to feel like you're as light as a feather."

"And you think that dancing ballet will get us across?"

"Well it wouldn't hurt. And I'm in a ballerina's tutu."

Yuki sat down and crossed his arms. "Alright, have it your way! But don't blame me when you fall down a bottomless pit."

Shuichi ignored what Yuki said and took a deep breath before he began to dance. He kept telling himself to be as light as a feather as he took the first step onto the field. And to the nutcracker's surprise, the ground below Shuichi didn't crumble. Now let's cue in Waltz of the Flowers, shall we? Shuichi began dancing around the field without it ever crumbling. Once he reached a certain part of the field, he looked back at Yuki.

"Aren't you coming?" he called out to him.

Yuki stared at him like he was insane. "Dancing through a field of flowers? Yeah, that's one of the things in the Stuff I Will Never Do list."

"You got any better ideas on getting through?"

"Well, the Forest of Death could definitely kill humans, but I'm sure it can't affect a nutcracker."

And apparently Yuki spoke too soon, for a tree from the Forest of Death was snapped into two and almost hit the nutcracker. He knew that dancing through the field was no option.

"I can't believe I'm doing this!" he muttered before he began thinking about being as light as a feather and tried to dance ballet. Sure enough, it worked. The ground was not crumbling below him. He wanted to relax but he knew the ground could crumble at any moment and he just kept going.

He eventually managed to catch up to Shuichi and they began dancing together. In fact, they were beginning to have so much fun dancing in the Field of Flowers. Yuki wasn't even thinking of it embarrassing or humiliating anymore but he wasn't sure if it was because he was having fun himself or because he was mesmerized with how Shuichi's eyes began to sparkle as they danced. They leaped and twirled around as they danced, feeling so free and without any worry. Eventually they reached the other side of the field and to end their glorious performance, Yuki dipped Shuichi.

They stared at each other's eyes for what seemed like eternity, feeling their hearts beat fast not just with the intensity of how they danced, but also with how they were feeling just by staring into each other's eyes. Once Yuki realized what was going on though, he dropped the pink haired boy onto the ground but not touching the field.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" Shuichi cried.

"Shut up," Yuki replied in a cold tone, "We need to continue onwards. We don't have time to keep up with these stupid games." He then began to walk away.

Shuichi just stared at Yuki with his hand over his chest, his heart beating heavily just by looking at the nutcracker. What was it that he was feeling? Could it possibly be… love? He stood up and ran after the nutcracker, trying to catch up with him. Little did they know that they were being watched.

**Pinkshuchan: Hehe, Shuichi and Yuki dancing through a field of flowers. Sorry, I can't stop laughing about that. Who knows what's going to happen next. Read and Review!**


	5. Nuts!

**Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! Hey everyone! This is Pinkshuchan. For people that have been reading my other fanstories, I'm sorry if I haven't been updating them a lot. I've been really busy with this story since it's already December and Christmas would be coming soon in a couple of weeks. I will be updating my other stories from time to time but you'll mostly see this story being updated. Anyways, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 5

Nuts!

Yuki and Shuichi continued on their way to reach wherever. They had not said a word to each other since the incident at the Field of Flowers. Shuichi's heart was beating faster than it had ever done before. He knew that he was falling for the nutcracker. Well, he was already in love with the nutcracker the moment Tohma gave him to him but he figured he had stopped falling with the nutcracker after finding out he was a jerk.

As for Yuki, if he wasn't a nutcracker his heart would've been beating as fast as Shuichi's was, for he noticed that he was also falling for the pink haired boy. Like with Shuichi, he fell in love with him the moment he was given to him but he figured it stopped after finding out that Shuichi was actually a guy.

Both felt a little uneasy close to each other. They felt that if they even did the tiniest thing, it would be embarrassing on their part. So they decided to just walk, trying not to make any conversation or start something that might not look good on them. It was harder on Shuichi though, as he was the type of person that just wanted to talk to someone. He was the type of person that hated being in some quiet place. He wanted to hear some noise, even if it was something small.

He wanted to talk to Yuki.

But what would he say? They didn't really have a lot to talk about. Yuki already told him a lot about the Land of Sweets so they can't talk about that. Yuki said that he didn't really want to talk about himself so Shuichi decided not to try to push it. They honestly didn't have anything to talk about.

Suddenly, they heard a scream.

Shuichi began to worry. "Yuki! It sounds like someone needs help!" he cried.

Yuki just stood there. "Why should we help them?" he asked, "It isn't any of our concern."

"We should still help them. Who knows what would happen?"

Before Yuki could say anything, Shuichi ran to where he heard the scream. He went in that direction until he saw mice in sliver armour picking on a small boy with dirty blond hair and dark blue eyes dressed as a gingerbread man. Shuichi recognized the mice to be the same mice from in Tohma's house. They seemed to want something to do with the boy, more importantly, what was in the boy's arms.

"We will ask you once more," one of the mice spoke to the boy, "Give us the doll!"

"Never!" the boy cried, "He's my best friend! I won't let you have him!"

"Then we'll have to take it by force!"

Shuichi knew he had to help the boy, but how? He began to think; how could he help the boy escape the mice? He then saw some tiny stones lying on the ground beside him. That gave him an idea. He grabbed the stones and began throwing them at the mice.

"Hey!" he called out to them as soon as he got their attention, "Pick on somebody your own size!"

The mice, furious at Shuichi, began chasing after him. The pink haired boy hoped that it would give the little boy time to escape. Now there was the case of trying to save himself from the mice soldiers. He ran until one of the mice blocked his path.

"HAHAHA!" the mouse laughed, "Got any more tricks?"

"Just one!" Shuichi replied before kicking the mouse right in the groin.

The mouse cried in pain. "AWW… NUTS!"

Shuichi continued running away as fast as he could to try to get the rest of the mice off his trail. He kept running until he heard something.

"Hey! This way!"

It was the boy. He came back to help Shuichi escape the mice. He followed the boy until they reached a dead end. Shuichi and the boy were trapped between the solid rock wall and the mice.

"Hehehe!" the mice chuckled, "We got you now!" It seemed like they were done until one of the mice, the same one Shuichi kicked in the groin, began stuttering. One of the other mice looked at him.

"Aw, what is it?" he asked gruffly.

"Nut… Nut… Nut…" the mouse stuttered.

"Yes we know it hurts where that bitch kicked you but-?"

The mouse shook his head and pointed upwards. "Nut… Nut…" It was then that the other mice looked up and understood perfectly what it was. They all began to stutter until one managed to scream:

"NUTCRACKER!"

Yuki jumped down from the tall height of the rock wall and began sword fighting with the mice soldiers. Shuichi and the boy took this as a chance to get away, but the pink haired boy felt guilty for leaving Yuki alone to fight against the mice. The young boy, seeing Shuichi's worry, began thinking of a plan to save all three of them from the mice. He then saw a forest ahead. He seemed to recognize the forest because he had a plan.

"Go lead your friend here with the mice!" he told Shuichi, "I have an idea!"

Shuichi didn't know what the boy was thinking but he was willing to try anything. He ran back to where Yuki was fighting the mice. He called out to Yuki, making the nutcracker look angry yet worried.

"What the hell are you doing you idiot?" he yelled, "Get out of here!"

"Yuki! Just follow me!" he cried.

The nutcracker didn't know what was going on but he decided to follow Shuichi, causing the mice to follow. As they ran, Shuichi tripped, which almost made him fall to the ground. However, Yuki managed to catch him in time and was now holding him bridal style. Shuichi watched as the mice were still following them.

"Over here!"

Yuki looked over to see the boy standing on a tree in front of a forest. With Shuichi in his arms, he ran towards the forest with the mouse soldiers gaining on them. It seemed like they would get caught until, out of the blue, millions of chestnuts fell on the rodents.

"AWW NUTS!" they all cried together.

The boy got down from where he was and followed Yuki and Shuichi deeper into the forest. Once they found a good place to rest, the nutcracker put the pink haired boy down and they sat down, catching their breath. Shuichi didn't know about Yuki and the little boy, but his heart was pounding faster than it ever did in his entire life. Once they had relaxed, the boy spoke up.

"Thank you so much for helping me get away from the mice," he spoke up, "I don't know what I would've done if you didn't come when you did."

"It's no problem," Shuichi replied, "We're just happy to help."

"That makes one of us," said Yuki, "I didn't want to help a brat in the first place."

Shuichi glared at him before realizing that the boy was staring at him. It made him feel uncomfortable. "What is it?" he asked the boy, "Is there something on my face?"

The boy shook his head. "No. You're really pretty."

Being called 'pretty' from a little boy caused Shuichi's cheeks to turn a light pink. "Uh, thank you."

Hearing the boy call Shuichi pretty, Yuki glared at the boy. But then he wondered, 'What am I doing?' He knew that Shuichi shouldn't mean a thing to him so it shouldn't matter if a little boy calls him pretty. And yet, he felt a bit… jealous. There was no way a nutcracker could get jealous of something as trivial as that. But the feeling just wouldn't go away no matter how much he denied it.

"Anyways," Shuichi continued, "I'm Shuichi and this is Yuki. We're travelling around the Land of Sweets for… well, possibly nothing but we aren't sure. Can you tell us your name?"

The boy nodded. "I'm Riku. I left my village to give a letter to a neighbouring village to give them a letter to ask them if they would come stay with us to protect them from the mice. It's a custom in my village to send children as messengers. But when I got there, no one was there. I'm guessing the mice got to them."

"Why were the mice after you?"

"Because I have the doll; the doll that would grant anyone's wishes. It's a doll of legend, but it is said that the doll can only be wished on by the purest of heart. That's why I have it. But the ruler of the mice, Taki, wanted the doll for himself. We don't know what he wants the doll for, but we know that it wouldn't be for anything good."

"You're saying that you have the Wishing Doll?" Yuki asked in a non believing tone, "There's no way such a precious object could be given to a brat."

"Well I do!" Riku replied, "Here it is!"

Yuki looked at the doll. No doubt it was the Wishing Doll. When Shuichi took a look at it, it reminded him of Santa Claus. Once they saw the doll, Riku put it back someplace safe. Yuki crossed his arms.

"Why do you have the doll with you?" he questioned in a cold tone, "An object that important cannot be exposed like that, especially if there are people greedy enough to want it for themselves."

"I didn't want to be lonely. It's a long way between my village and the village I had to see."

Shuichi could understand that. After all, Riku was still only a child. He would've wanted to be accompanied by another, even if the other is a doll. He began to look around in the forest they were in. The forest was filled with lots of chestnut trees circling around them. It looked somewhat dark with all the leaves blocking the clear blue sky. It felt strange to the pink haired male.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"We're at Chestnut Forest," Riku replied, "If we continue north of here, we should reach my village, the Gingerbread Village. You both should come with me. I would like to introduce everyone to the people that saved my life and possibly the entire kingdom."

"No thanks," said Yuki, "We are continuing in our own direction."

Shuichi looked over at the nutcracker. "Come on Yuki," he whined, "It's the least we can do. Besides, I haven't had anything to eat. I'm starving."

"Then eat some of the chestnuts here, I don't care."

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Riku replied, "The chestnuts here don't taste good if they just come from the trees. They would need to be cooked and peeled to taste as good as they are. My village makes the best roasted chestnuts."

"Again, I don't care, "said the nutcracker, "I don't eat anyways so it isn't anything important."

"Yuki…" Shuichi was beginning to cry, "WHY CAN'T YOU BE KIND ENOUGH TO ACCEPT HIS OFFER? I WANNA GO TO THE VILLAGE! I WANNA GO! I WANNA GO! I WANNA GO!"

The nutcracker hated it when Shuichi began to cry like a child. Shuichi crying was loud enough to wake the dead. He groaned. "Fine! We'll go to the village!"

The pink haired boy cried for joy when he heard Yuki change his mind. Riku also began joining Shuichi with the cheers. This made Yuki instantly regret ever agreeing to take Shuichi with him in the first place. With Riku as their guide, they began heading to the Gingerbread Village, unaware of what was to come.

Meanwhile, far away from the Chestnut Forest, Taki, the Mouse King, was getting comfortable in his throne. He loved the idea of ruling the Land of Sweets. All his life, he thought he would always be nothing more than some weak underling, but that all changed the moment he had hold of the magic sceptre. As he relaxed in his throne, one of the mouse soldiers from before ran in. Taki narrowed his eyes at the sight of the soldier.

"Well, what is it?" he demanded in an impatient tone.

The mouse soldier began to shake with fear before spitting out what he had to say. "The… The nutcracker… is here in the Land of Sweets!"

"WHAT?" The Mouse King stormed to the soldier and began choking him, "The nutcracker is back in the Land of Sweets?"

"Y-Yes sir," the soldier coughed, "He wasn't alone though. He was accompanied by a boy from the Gingerbread Village, the same one that has the Wishing Doll, and a beautiful girl."

Taki raised his eyebrow when he heard 'girl'. "A girl?" he asked before tightening his grip, "WHAT DID SHE LOOK LIKE?"

The mouse soldier gave faint sounds as the pressure on his neck made it hard for him to breathe. Noticing this, Taki loosened his grip on the soldier's neck, ready to hear what he wanted to hear.

"She's very beautiful, your Majesty," the soldier spoke up, "She was a little cunning too. She had a petite figure, was wearing a light pink ballerina outfit, had big wonderful violet eyes, and she had the most unusual coloured short hair."

The appearance was beginning to sound familiar. There was only one thing he needed to confirm before he could assume it was the same person. "What colour? What colour hair did she have?"

"Pink, your Majesty," the soldier stuttered, "She had pink hair."

It was true. The girl with the nutcracker was the same girl from before. Taki had assumed that he had killed her but he guessed the magic didn't work as properly as it could have when the nutcracker interfered. He began to worry.

"This is terrible!" he muttered as soon as he dismissed the soldier, "That girl could ruin everything. If she breaks _that_, I'll lose my head let alone my throne. I mustn't let that happen. I must get rid of the girl. Ah, but that nutcracker would no doubt protect her from anything I use to destroy her. I could get rid of the nutcracker. Yes! Destroy the nutcracker and I rid the problem immediately!

"But the nutcracker is too strong. I've already tried to kill him myself and that backfired. If I'm going to kill him, I'm going to have to use a method too powerful for him to resist. That's it!" He raised his sceptre and began casting a spell. A small amount of smoke flew out of the sceptre and headed in the direction of the Chestnut Forest, followed by Taki's maniacal laughter.

**Pinkshuchan: It seems like things aren't going to get any easier on Yuki and Shuichi. What will happen to them? Read and Review!**


	6. Song of Seduction

**Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! Hey everyone! Pinkshuchan here! I know that it wasn't that long ago that I posted the last chapter of A Gravitation Nutcracker, but there's so much of the story to be read and so little time to put it all in. My goal is to finish the story before Christmas. I don't own the song used in this chapter. Anyways, without further adieu, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 6

Song of Seduction

Yuki and Shuichi followed Riku through the Chestnut Forest to reach the Gingerbread Village. They didn't know how long they walked as the sky was completely covered by the chestnuts trees. They also couldn't determine how far they had come either. Shuichi wasn't sure about Yuki because he was a nutcracker and Riku because he obviously had been through the forest many times, but the pink haired boy was ready to collapse. He knew that he had to lay off the strawberry pocky.

On and on they walked; broken branches and fallen chestnuts slightly cracking with every step they took. Shuichi didn't know why but he had a bad feeling something bad was going to happen. He wasn't sure what, but he knew it was something. They walked and walked until, suddenly, they saw what looked like smoke floating before them. A song rang through their ears with a voice as beautiful as that of an angel's. Slowly, the smoke began to take some find of form. They weren't sure of what it would be until they saw it complete.

The smoke took the form of a beautiful young woman. Long smoky grey hair flowed around with the breeze, making her skin look almost white. Her dark grey brassiere barely covered her chest. The bottom half of her body remained smoke. She moved her body rhythmically as she sang, making it almost look like she was seducing them. Shuichi and Riku didn't understand why.

"Does she live around here Riku?" he asked the young boy.

"I don't know," he replied, "I've never seen her around here. She doesn't even look human."

Shuichi looked over at Yuki. "What do you think? Is she human Yuki?"

The nutcracker just stood there, staring at the creature before him. Shuichi assumed that it was one of Yuki's usual cold responds, but then he looked in the nutcracker's eyes. Instead of the usual cold gold eyes the pink haired boy was familiar with, they were a dull yellow with no iris to be seen. Shuichi tried everything he could to get the wooden soldier's attention but nothing he did work. He had a conclusion.

The nutcracker was hypnotized.

But from what? Only after looking at the creature did Shuichi realize. It was that woman that was hypnotizing him, but why? But then she gestured for Yuki to come towards her. The nutcracker replied, walking towards her like a toy soldier would. The woman blew a kiss and the smoke flew a bit before turning into flames. Shuichi realized what was going on and feared for Yuki's life. Yuki, being a wooden nutcracker, could easily burn the moment any flames touch him. With that being the case, he could die just by turning into a pile of ash.

Shuichi ran after him and held the wooden arm tightly with his feet placed firmly on the ground. "Yuki, snap out of it!" he cried, "Don't you realize you're walking to your own death?"

The nutcracker didn't stop walking and managed to break free from Shuichi's grasp with having his arm fall apart off his body. Shuichi fell to the ground with Yuki's arm within his and looked up at the wooden soldier.

"Dammit Yuki!" Shuichi yelled, "Now's not the time to pull yourself apart!" He looked down at the arm. "Well, you obviously can't go to her with only one arm on you, right?"

The pink haired boy spoke too soon, for the arm began following its owner with him holding it. Shuichi tried running as fast as he could to force the arm to go the opposite direction but it wasn't working. With his other arm, Shuichi grabbed a tree and held it as tightly as he could. However, he knew it wouldn't last long until the arm manages to release itself from Shuichi's grasp. Riku ran towards Shuichi.

"Shuichi," Riku cried, "I have an idea to save Yuki."

"Great!" Shuichi replied, keeping a tight hold on the tree, "Care to explain it to me?"

"Well, the creature is taking the form of a pretty girl to get Yuki. Maybe we could use that against her."

"Good plan, but one problem. We don't have a girl here who could seduce Yuki back here."

"Yes we do, and she is indeed very pretty."

This surprised Shuichi. "Really? We do? Who is she? _Where_ is she? How come I haven't met her?"

Riku looked at Shuichi with a confused look which made Shuichi confused. That was, until Shuichi realized what it was after looking down at himself. Because of the ballerina outfit, Shuichi was automatically assumed to be a girl. This made Shuichi's face turn red with embarrassment.

"Oh, no Riku. I'm not…" But he stopped once he saw Riku's face. Riku was still a little boy. It wouldn't make sense if Shuichi told him that he was a guy. Then again, knowing how much of a girl he looked like, he had a feeling that a lot of people wouldn't believe him if he said he was a guy. He sighed.

"So what do I need to do again?" he asked.

"It's really simple Shuichi," Riku replied, "All you have to do is sing and try to get Yuki back here."

"But I don't have any music."

"No problem!" Riku responded confidently, "We are in the Chestnut Forest. Aside from having the most delicious chestnuts, this forest is well known with its musical chestnuts. I'll get the music started."

"Hurry Riku!" Shuichi cried, "I don't think I can hold on any longer and Yuki is getting closer to her."

Riku didn't hesitate. He climbed up the trees and looked at each individual chestnut. One of them was the one that started playing music, but which one? He looked at them, looking for a difference between them all. Shuichi struggled with keeping Yuki's arm from moving forward and Yuki was already a quarter away from her. It seemed like the young boy wouldn't be able to find the chestnut until he saw a chestnut with a music note symbol carved onto it.

"I think this is it!" he cried before flicking it. Sure enough, the most beautiful music began echoing through the entire forest once he did. Shuichi, taking it as his cue, began humming while thinking of what song to sing. It was enough to stop Yuki and his arm from moving any farther, causing him to turn only his head towards the pink haired boy, but he wasn't heading back to them. Shuichi began singing the moment he thought of the perfect song, moving around in a rhythm that would look seductive enough to win a man, even if that man was a nutcracker.

_Shuichi_

_I'll have a blue Christmas without you_

_I'll be so blue thinking about you_

_Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree_

_Won't be the same if you're not here with me_

_And when those blue snowflakes start fallin'_

_And when those blue melodies start callin'_

_You'll be doin' all right with your Christmas of white_

_But I'll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas_

It was working. Yuki's full body turned to Shuichi and he was walking back to him in his hypnotized state. The smoke creature, realizing that her song wasn't working, continued to try winning Yuki back with her own singing. But Shuichi's beautiful and powerful voice overpowered hers, no matter how much she sang. That didn't mean she was going to give up.

_Shuichi_

_Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree_

_Won't mean a thing if you're not here with me_

_I'll have a blue Christmas, that's certain_

_And when that blue heartache starts hurtin'_

_You'll be doin' alright with your Christmas of white_

_But I'll have a blue, blue Christmas_

Yuki had finally reached back to Shuichi before the song had finished and Shuichi brought himself closer to the nutcracker, using the final touches of his seducing to win Yuki for sure. He looked up into Yuki's eyes and stared deeply into them as he finished his song. The smoke creature disappeared the moment Yuki was in Shuichi's arms but that didn't stop Shuichi. He had fallen so deep with his song to Yuki that the moment it finished, he leaned close to the nutcracker as he closed his eyes and almost kissed him on the lips. But when his lips were an inch away…

"What the hell are you doing?"

Shuichi opened his eyes to see that Yuki was back to his usual self, glaring at him. The pink haired boy blushed before stepping back.

"I'm glad to see you broke free from her hypnotism," he replied, "We almost lost you."

The nutcracker raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? What hypnotism? What do you mean you almost lost me?"

Shuichi just laughed. "Does it really matter? The point is that you're safe."

Yuki blushed the moment Shuichi smiled at him and he turned his head away. "Yes, well, there's no way I can submit to someone or something that easily even if I _was_ hypnotized."

The pink haired boy just rolled his eyes. After a bit, Riku joined them back to the ground.

"Ok guys!" he spoke strongly, "Let's go! We have a long way to go before we reach the Gingerbread Village."

This shocked Shuichi. "But isn't the village just on the other side of the forest?" he asked.

"It is, but not before crossing the Valley of Sugarcanes and the Pop Rock Desert."

Shuichi groaned before sitting down on a stone. "Uh uh!" he refused, "No way I'm taking another step. I'm tired, I'm hungry, I want to rest."

Yuki moved so he was standing right in front of Shuichi. "Get your ass off that stone, Princess," he demanded, "You were the one that wanted to go to the Gingerbread Village and we're not stopping until we get there," Yuki then realized something. "Hey! Where's my arm?"

Shuichi had completely forgotten about that. He put it down as he was trying to seduce Yuki in order to save him, but it wasn't in the spot he put it anymore. Where _did_ it go? Riku then pointed at something, causing both the nutcracker and the pink haired boy to look up in the trees. Something that looked like a red monkey with a bit of white with a tail that looked like a candy cane was sitting up there.

"It's a candy cane monkey!" Riku cried.

Yuki noticed something in the monkey's hands and was not too pleased to see what it was. "And he's got my arm!" he yelled.

The monkey then ran off with the arm. Yuki was still screaming at it to return his arm. It went in the direction they were headed. Now it was official; they had to continue through, especially if Yuki wanted his arm back. He and Riku began continuing until they noticed that Shuichi was still sitting on the stone.

"Aren't you coming?" said Yuki.

"I told you!" Shuichi snapped, "I'm not moving forward until I rest."

Yuki sighed. "Fine then," he replied, "We'll leave you here all alone."

Shuichi snapped his head in the direction the others were going. "You're not seriously going to leave me here all alone here are you?"

"Well I'm not going to waste anytime, especially since that bastard has my arm. So I'm not stopping just because you can't take a little walk."

Shuichi knew he wasn't going to win this battle and groaned as he stood up. "You're such an ass!" he muttered before following after them out of the Chestnut Forest and into the Valley of the Sugarcanes.

Back at Taki's castle, the said Mouse King was furious that his smoke maiden was unable to destroy the nutcracker. This didn't mean he was ready to give up. With his sceptre, he began creating another monster to do his evil deeds. He just hoped this one would get rid of the nutcracker for good.

**Pinkshuchan: So, what did you think? The song was Blue Christmas and I used the version by Celine Dion. What more is there to come? Read and Review!**


	7. Sugarcane Flutes

**Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! Hello everyone, this is Pinkshuchan! Last chapter, Shuichi and Riku managed to save Yuki from being seduced to death. However as a result, they need to continue on in order to reach the Gingerbread Village and recover Yuki's arm that was taken by a monkey. What more is going to happen? Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 7

Sugarcane Flutes

Upon exiting the Chestnut Forest, Yuki, Shuichi, and Riku found themselves at a large green clearing. The grass looked like it glowed under the clear blue sky. It wasn't all grass though, for there were also small green trees that looked like they were Riku's height. There were also some stalks the same height without any leaves and had holes at the top. Riku stood in front of the others and smiled.

"We are at the Valley of the Sugarcanes," he explained, "We're halfway to the village."

They continued walking through the valley in heading to the village. As they walked, Shuichi couldn't help but look to see that the entire place wasn't just some clearing. There where cliffs and rivers all around them as they got farther through. All of the little trees and stalks piqued his curiosity. He had never seen them before in his entire life.

"What are these?" he asked.

Riku looked over before realizing what Shuichi meant. "Those are the sugarcanes that reside here," he replied, "The ones with the leaves are the ones that we harvest to make lots of things. The ones with the holes are the ones that provide music. They produce the most beautiful flute music. They are also known as sugarcane flutes."

"Sugarcane flutes? Does every place here provide anything musical?"

"Of course! Everyone in the Land of Sweets loves music. I've never met anyone here that doesn't. Wait, do _you_ hate music Shuichi?"

"No way!" said Shuichi, "Music is my entire life! I would rather die than to never hear music let alone to never sing."

Yuki listened to the conversation in silence. He didn't know _what_ he could say. He wasn't one to participate in conversations without hurting someone. He listened as Shuichi and Riku talked about music. Seeing them smile as they were talking about it made the nutcracker feel strange. He had never been close to so many smiles so the feeling was the most unusual for him.

They walked through the valley until they realized it was getting dark. They decided to camp in the condition that they leave as soon as the sun returns, but, since Yuki was made of wood and fires made him uneasy, they decided not to make a fire. Then again, there wasn't really anything that they could use to make the fire so it was pretty much pointless. Riku had already fallen asleep while Shuichi and Yuki were still awake, looking up at the sky.

Shuichi was the first to speak. "I guess you're not going to sleep?"

"I'm made of wood," the nutcracker replied, "Sleep never comes for me."

The pink haired boy looked at Yuki with a saddened expression. The nutcracker looked like something was troubling him. The question was what. Shuichi scooted closer to him. "I haven't felt like sleeping either. I don't know why. Maybe I'm too tired to sleep."

"That's the lamest thing I've ever heard. If you're tired, you would mostly likely sleep. Besides, sleep is important to humans. It keeps them healthy and they can see the most beautiful dreams."

"You're starting to sound like my mother."

"Shut up!" Yuki replied as he gave Shuichi a little nudge, causing the pink haired boy to laugh. Yuki couldn't stop himself from staring at that gentle looking face. Blush came over the boy's face as he laughed; making it look like it was glowing in the night. Once Shuichi noticed he was looking at him, the nutcracker realized this and turned his head away. He spoke up.

"You… You said that you loved to sing, right?" he asked, "Was part of that… involved when you first sang to me back at the place you come from?"

Shuichi's face turned red with that. "Well… a little. It's true that I love to sing… but I mostly sing with what's in my heart. I think I sing the best when I have something in my heart to sing about. It was what made me popular for my voice."

Yuki had the urge to fidget, but it was hard to do with only one arm. "You know… back in the Chestnut Forest… you said that something hypnotized me and almost tried to kill me, right? Well I had a feeling something was wrong… but I didn't think it was anything you mentioned to me. I had walked alongside you both until I saw smoke which then turned into light. I was curious as to what that light would be. It glowed so bright and it showed me things that relaxed me.

"I decided to go to the light. As I moved closer, I felt myself getting warmer and warmer, like I was heading towards fire. I wanted to stop myself but I couldn't. My body was moving by itself. I felt like my life was about to end there and then.

"But then, I heard the most beautiful voice singing at me. I looked over to see another light, but it was far more radiant than the first one. I found myself walking towards it but this time I wanted to walk to it and continue until I reached it. As I walked towards it, it felt colder than walking to the first light but yet I felt safer. I had finally reached the light and felt it touch me with warmth that wasn't scorching yet pierced into me. I closed my eyes for a bit as the light and slight warmth blinded me for a bit. When I opened my eyes, I saw you.

"Thinking about it now, I think that it was you with your voice that was the light that guided me safely back before getting myself killed. So, I have one thing to say…" He gulped before he took a breath to say what he wanted to say. "Thank you."

Shuichi looked up into the nutcracker's eyes; his own sparkling with happiness and radiance. "I only sang," said Shuichi, "It was actually Riku's idea." They looked over at the little boy, who was sleeping soundly with the Wishing Doll in his arms. They then looked back at each other.

"Thinking the plan alone doesn't always mean it would save a person," Yuki replied, "What if your voice wasn't the one that could stop me? I would be long dead by now. Although I do thank him for coming up with the plan, I mostly thank you and your voice for actually helping me."

Shuichi moved even closer to Yuki. "Do you… really think my voice is beautiful?"

"Don't get used to hearing all that from me," Yuki growled, "There's a reason why I'm a cold nutcracker and not just because of my cold wood."

The pink haired boy rested his head on the nutcracker's chest. "On the contrary," he spoke in an almost whisper, "You're very warm."

Luckily yet unluckily for the nutcracker was that Shuichi was closer to the side that still had an arm. He really wanted to put his arm around him but he didn't want to show any feelings for the pink haired boy whatsoever. It was like he was fighting a difficult war; far more difficult than any war he had ever fought in.

This moment was not to last though.

The ground began to shake rapidly. Yuki and Shuichi became fully aware and Riku woke up. They prepared themselves for whatever was coming towards them. Suddenly, the ground began to break and out of it came what looked like a giant serpent. Yuki pulled out his sword while Riku and Shuichi tried looking for a safe place so they weren't in the battlefield.

It was a great battle between the nutcracker and the serpent. The serpent snapped its teeth at Yuki and the nutcracker would try to counterattack at the snake. The battle went on, but it seemed like Yuki was winning. However, it wasn't until the giant snake proved itself worthy with another attack; it was able to breathe fire.

On and on it breathed fire through the entire valley, trying to get the nutcracker. Shuichi knew if it continued on like this, Yuki would become firewood in no time. He looked at Riku. "Do you have another plan?" he asked the young boy anxiously.

Riku began to think. He knew there had to be someway to help Yuki. He then looked over at the sugarcane flutes and got an idea. He looked over at Shuichi. "I got an idea!" he replied, "If we get the sugarcane flutes to start playing, it might affect the snake in some way."

Shuichi understood what he meant. "You mean like a snake charmer?"

"Exactly! We just need to find the trigger point. The question is where."

"You don't know?"

"It's not hard to find. Just find the sugarcane flute with a musical note on it and blow in it. Then it and the others will start to play, like when I flicked the right chestnut to get all the others to play for your song. We have to hurry though. That snake looks like it really wants to make a flaming wooden snack out of Yuki."

There was truth in what Riku said, for at that moment, Yuki was struggling to keep himself from getting burnt. Shuichi and Riku hurried along, hoping that they wouldn't have to go very far to find the trigger sugarcane flute. It wasn't long until Shuichi found what Riku described. He blew in it, hoping that it would start the music.

It did.

Let's cue in the Dance of the Reed Flutes. The most beautiful flute music began playing through the entire valley, hypnotizing the serpent. The serpent swayed a bit before slithering forward in front of Shuichi. The pink haired boy didn't know why it was coming close to him. He started running, noticing that the snake was still following him. That gave him an idea. He led the snake over to the closest cliff he could find and jumped out of the way before the snake reached the edge.

The snake fell and turned into smoke.

Once the serpent was gone, Shuichi rushed over to the nutcracker. "Yuki, are you alright?"

"Well I'm not burnt if that's what you mean!" Yuki replied.

Riku looked curiously at the cliff the serpent fell off of before joining back with the others. "There's one thing I don't get," he exclaimed, "First the creature that looked like a woman and now this serpent. Aside from the fact that they both produce fire, they both seem to go after Yuki."

Both the nutcracker and the pink haired male's eyes widened at realization. "I have a feeling that damn mouse might have something to do with it," said Yuki, "He's the only one that would conjure all these creatures just to kill me."

"The Mouse King?" asked Riku, "Why would he go through all this trouble just to kill you?"

"Let's just say I might have something to do with ruining his rule. I can't say anymore than that."

This made both Shuichi and Riku curious but they decided not to talk any further about it. Shuichi began looking around he saw something that caught his eye.

"Hey! Look!" he cried out, pointing at what he just saw. Yuki and Riku turned their heads to see what the pink haired male was talking about. Yuki growled.

"It's that damn monkey!"

Indeed, the same candy cane monkey that took Yuki's arm was standing right there with said arm in its paws. Yuki began running after it with Shuichi and Riku following, exiting the Valley of the Sugarcanes and into the Pop Rock Desert. Little did they know that someone was following them in secret.

Back at Taki's castle, said mouse was absolutely furious with what happened in the valley. It was no more Mr. Nice Mouse. With his sceptre, he created one more creature to try to kill the nutcracker. There was no way this creature was going to get defeated that easily.

**Pinkshuchan: I don't really have anything to say here. Read and Review!**


	8. Pop Goes the Desert

**Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! Hey, this is Pinkshuchan! I don't really have a lot to say so here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 8

Pop Goes the Desert

The sun reached its highest peak when Yuki, Shuichi, and Riku followed the monkey to a strange looking place before losing sight of it. The ground was a reddish pink with stones of the same colour. There was no lush, just stone. Or at least, it looked like stone. Shuichi picked up one of the tiniest stones and put it in his mouth. The stone began popping but not enough to cause any damage in his mouth. It reminded him of…!

"Pop Rocks!" Shuichi cried, "The entire place is made of Pop Rocks!"

"Of course!" said Riku, "This is the Pop Rock Desert. We just need to go through here to reach the Gingerbread Village."

"I've heard great things about this desert," Yuki replied as they continued walking, "Isn't there a myth about this place?"

"Yep. There's a myth that if you drop any soda from the Soda River that resides not far from here here, the entire desert would explode and become a giant hole. People also call the river the Pop River but it's most likely to be confused with the Pop Rock Desert."

Yuki and Riku kept hearing crackling from behind them and looked to see Shuichi eating some of the Pop Rock stones. The pink haired male looked up at them after he noticed that they were staring at him. "What?" he asked, "I'm hungry and the other two places didn't have anything edible. I have to eat something."

"We're almost to the Gingerbread Village," Riku replied, "It's only a short way from here and then you can get some food."

Shuichi groaned with the idea, but ended up following them. They continued onward through the desert until they heard something from a distance. It sounded like giant footsteps. Yuki stood defensively.

"It has to be another one of that damn mouse's summons," he told them, "Get ready! We don't know what this one can do."

Shuichi and Riku stood on their guard, ready for whatever creature was coming their way. The footsteps became loud as they got closer and the closer they got, the more the ground began to shake with it. It wasn't long until whatever the creature was that the Mouse King summoned would show itself in front of them and try to destroy Yuki.

And appear in front of them it did. It was a creature that stood 50 ft before them. It was a creature that would bring fear into many people by just looking at them. It was…

"A giant clown?" Yuki couldn't believe that that was supposed to be the mouse's next tactic. "I think that mouse has gone nuts. He must've finally cracked."

"Well, isn't that what you do to people?" asked Shuichi.

Yuki stared at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Shuichi smiled, trying to suppress a giggle. "Well you are a _nutcracker_. You make people nuts and then you crack them."

That didn't make the nutcracker laugh. "Dammit Shuichi, really? You just _had_ to make a joke like that?"

"I'm sorry; I just really wanted to make a joke with what you are. It could've been worse; I could've said that you crack him nuts, and not just his mind."

Yuki just stared at him. "I don't even wanna know where you were going with that joke."

Riku stood between them and pointed at the clown. "He's going to attack!" And he was right for the clown began breathing fire. It was a good thing they jumped away from the attack but they knew they couldn't keep it up if they stayed so they ran. They ran as fast as they could but because of the clowns size it was able to trail right behind them. They ran until they reached what looked like a river that was a really dark colour and had bubbles popping in it. Riku gasped.

"This is the Soda River!" he cried.

They looked back to see that the giant clown was standing right behind them on the reddish pink ground. They were trapped between a fire breathing clown and a river of soda. Shuichi, not taking any chances, jumped into the river. Yuki and Riku stared at him like he was crazy. And crazy the pink haired male was, for the plan he had in mind was risky.

The moment he jumped into the river, he could taste the soda in his mouth. He licked at some of it on his lips and moaned at the taste.

"Cola, my favourite!" he squealed before he looked over at the clown, "Here! Have some!" He then splashed the soda in the clown's direction. It didn't seem like anything was happening and they feared that they were going to be in trouble. However, the part of the ground that was touched by the soda exploded, taking the clown with it. The nutcracker and the little boy looked over at that spot in awe.

"I guess it isn't a myth after all," said Riku, "Who knew?"

But Shuichi's plan had one flaw to it. Because of the explosion, the rest of the ground began to crack until it reached the river and it began to flood, carrying Yuki, Shuichi, and Riku with it.

They were floating through the rapids created by the impact and looking for a way of rescue. It was then that they noticed the sturdy wall coming their way and tried holding on. Riku and Yuki were successful since Riku wore mittens and Yuki had one wooden hand. Shuichi however, was not so lucky. Because his hands were bare and were completely soaked with the soda, he couldn't properly grab hold of the wall and fell hard back in the river, knocking him out.

Yuki wanted to jump back into the river and save Shuichi but it would prove impossible with only one arm and the fact that the river already carried the pink haired male too far to catch up. The nutcracker mentally kicked himself for not trying to save him.

"SHUICHI!" he cried before the pink haired boy had disappeared from his sight.

Shuichi's body was floating on the Soda River until it reached a waterfall. It seemed like he was about to plummet to his doom until something flew by and snatched him out of the soda, carrying him in its arms. Whatever saved him flew to a safe place and placed Shuichi down. It then began to caress the pink haired male's cheek with its paw.

"You are really pretty yet really silly," said the creature, "I think the best word for you is… sparkly! It's not the time for you to sleep just yet. You still have a lot to do here in the Land of Sweets."

Back with Yuki and Riku, they managed to land to a safe place, but after Shuichi was taken away by the river, the nutcracker fell to pieces. And this was literal. When Yuki jumped to the safe spot, he landed so hard into the land that his arm and legs came off. Riku was successful with putting Yuki's body back together, but his somewhat non existent heart could never be repaired unless he was able to find Shuichi. The young boy could see this and tried his best to get the nutcracker's mind off it temporarily. The question was how. But then, the answer came in front of them.

It was the monkey with Yuki's arm.

Yuki growled. "You picked a bad time to cross paths with me Monkey!" He pounced on it but the monkey managed to get away. Yuki began running after it. There was no way he was going to lose it now. He was determined to get his arm back. He ran after it until it mysteriously disappeared. The nutcracker cursed, swearing that he would catch that monkey the next time he saw it. Riku was able to catch up to him, but caught a glimpse of something not that far away. It looked like a person.

"Yuki, come here!" he called out to him.

The nutcracker growled before heading over to Riku. "What the hell is it?"

The boy pointed over at what he saw. Yuki told Riku to go someplace safe before he slowly moved forward, unsure of what it could be or if it would attack them. But then he got a good view and couldn't believe his eyes.

It was Shuichi, lying in a flowerbed.

Yuki rushed over to Shuichi's side and pulled him close to him. He started to worry. Was this really Shuichi or his corpse? All doubt flowed out of his mind the moment he saw violet eyes flutter open.

"Yu… Yuki?" Shuichi whispered.

Yuki breathed heavily with seeing Shuichi alright. Without any warning to himself or to the pink haired male, he pulled him close to him. The latter was fully awake and startled by the nutcracker's sudden movement. But it felt so good to be in Yuki's embrace, even if it was a wooden embrace.

"You're alright!" said Yuki, "You're alright! Thank God you're alright!" He pulled Shuichi arms length of him. "You… I thought… I thought."

Shuichi looked into Yuki's eyes and saw something he never expected, at least not from Yuki. The nutcracker was crying. "Yuki? You're crying?"

The nutcracker realized what he was doing and let go of Shuichi who was able to sit up by himself to wipe away the tears. "I'm not crying," he sobbed stubbornly, "Nutcrackers don't cry. They don't cry. They don't."

Shuichi cupped the nutcracker's cheek with his hand. "Yuki, it's okay," he said softly, "It's okay to cry. I cry all the time."

Yuki looked at him. "That's supposed to make me feel better?"

"Is it?"

"A little. I'm just glad you're okay Shuichi."

"Well, I'm glad that- Wait a minute!" Shuichi looked up at him with a disbelieving face. "You just called me Shuichi! You actually called me by my name!"

"Am I not supposed to?"

"You said that you would never call me by my name."

"I didn't say that."

"Yes you did!"

"Prove it!"

"Remember when we were back at my world? I said that you could call me Shuichi and you said that was never gonna happen. I even asked why and you said because."

"Well, maybe because I never thought you would mean anything to me."

Shuichi stared at him. "What do you mean?"

The nutcracker sighed. "When we first met… I thought that I wouldn't get a chance to interact with you… and when I did, I thought I wouldn't really think anything of you because you were a guy. But now… it's all changing. Now, I can't…"

The pink haired male's eyes began to sparkle with every word the nutcracker said. "Yuki…" They stared into each other's eyes before they moved closer to each other. They were only inches away from kissing until…

"Hey!" Riku's voice echoed, "Yuki, are you still alive?"

They had almost forgotten about Riku until that moment. Yuki stood up, helping Shuichi up, before calling back: "I'm perfectly fine! And Shuichi's here with me!"

Riku ran towards them and hugged Shuichi the moment he reached them. "Shuichi!" he cried with tears falling down his face, "I'm so glad you're alright. I didn't want you to die."

Shuichi knelt down and held onto him. "It's okay Riku," he assured him, "I'm perfectly okay."

The young boy looked up at him. "Really?" Shuichi nodded. The little boy rubbed his eyes before facing both of them. "You won't believe me, but we're actually really close to the village. We're close to Pure Milk Lake. The Gingerbread Village is across the lake. And I found a boat. We can get there by that."

"That's great!" Shuichi cried for joy.

Riku led them to the lake. It was so beautiful. It was a lake of what looked like pure white milk that shined under the honey coloured sun. And just as the boy said, there was a boat that looked like a pure white swan floating there for them to go on. Yuki stared at the boat.

"That doesn't look like a boat crafted by a human," said the nutcracker, "That boat looks like it was made by magic."

"Still, I'd rather go across with this boat then walk around the lake," said Shuichi, "Besides, I feel like we can trust that this boat can bring us to the village safely."

It took a lot of convincing before Yuki agreed to go on the boat with them. Riku sat on one side while Yuki and Shuichi sat on the other side. Through the entire boat ride, Shuichi rested his head on Yuki's shoulder, closing his eyes in tranquillity. This time, Yuki wrapped his arm around him, holding him close. They remained this way the entire way across the lake and into the Gingerbread Village, unaware that someone was still watching them.

At Taki's castle, the mouse was now in an undying rage. No matter what he did, the nutcracker and his friends would defeat every monster. He knew that he had to do something, but how? He decided to watch the nutcracker and see what he does in order to plan how to permanently get rid off him.

**Pinkshuchan: How was that chapter? Did you like it? I really had to add the rumour of Pop Rocks exploding if mixing with soda. I couldn't let that opportunity pass by. Read and Review!**


	9. Gingerbread Village

**Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! Hiya! This is Pinkshuchan! I really got to finish these chapters quicker. There's not many days left until Christmas and I want to get this story done before it's here. Last chapter, they were at a desert but after many events they got closer to the Gingerbread Village. What more is there to come? This will be the longest chapter but the others will be short from here. I don't own any of the songs used in this chapter. Anyways, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 9

Gingerbread Village

The Gingerbread Village; a self-explanatory village. Basically, it's a village with buildings made entirely out of gingerbread and everyone that lived there were dressed like gingerbread people. Everywhere they walked they had a great big smile on their faces as if they didn't have a care in the world. This made Yuki curious, as he never knew them to be so happy.

Riku showed Yuki and Shuichi their way around the village as when he asked they replied that they might stay for a bit before heading off. When they were done, he left them on their own as he went to tell the village leader about what he found out. Yuki felt relieved to get that kid out of his hair.

"Good thing we're in a village now," said the nutcracker, "I'm going to get a drink at the bar."

Shuichi stared at him with widened eyes as he was walking away. "But nutcrackers can't drink!"

"Watch me!"

The pink haired boy followed the nutcracker into the bar and sat down at a table. Even the furniture was made of gingerbread. If he could, Shuichi could eat the entire village, but then it would make him seem like one of the kids in Hansel and Gretel. He was amazed with the scenery in the bar. Not only were there tables and a counter, there was also a stage with people performing. Once they were seated, a waitress walked over to them.

"Hello," she greeted them, "What can I get you?"

"I'll have your best eggnog," said Yuki, "And put as much rum in it as you can. I don't have to worry about getting drunk."

The waitress nodded before facing Shuichi. "And you?"

"Do you have any hot chocolate?"

"Certainly. With or without milk?"

"With milk please."

"Do you want any marshmallows in it?"

"Yes please."

Once the orders were in, the waitress left and returned with Yuki's eggnog with rum and Shuichi's hot chocolate with milk and marshmallows. She then walked away, leaving them to their drinks. Shuichi couldn't believe his eyes as he saw Yuki take a sip of the eggnog. Just the fact that someone made of wood would actually drink eggnog like an actual person.

"A nutcracker who drinks alcohol," he muttered amazed, "Now I've seen everything."

Yuki looked over at him. "You would want to drink too if you knew everything I've been through."

"I know that you're frustrated because a monkey had taken your arm and you have the Mouse King chasing after you but-"

"No, it's not just the monkey and the Mouse King," said Yuki, "It's a lot more than that."

"What's that?"

Yuki turned his head away. "I can't say."

Shuichi didn't understand. "But why?"

"I just can't. Not even if I wanted to I can't."

Suddenly, something caught Yuki's eye through the window and his face turned into a face of sorrow into a glaring face. He growled and ran out the bar. Shuichi went to the window and saw Yuki chasing what looked like the monkey. He sighed. This was going to take a while. He went back to his seat and just sat there drinking his hot chocolate.

"Ah, that damn mouse has ruined everything," said a voice close by, "The Gingerbread Village might be the only village left in the Land of Sweets."

Shuichi turned around to see two middle aged men sitting at a table in the corner not far from where he was sitting. One of the men was groaning in sorrow while the other looked angry with frustration. He couldn't help but listen in to their conversation.

"Oh why would the mouse do this to us?" the man groaning asked, which Shuichi recognized to be the one that was speaking out, "Doesn't he realize that he's only hurting us as his subjects?"

"It's true that that mouse is ruining us," said the angry looking man, "But he's not as bad as that good for nothing Prince Eiri. He was way worse than the mouse."

"Now don't say that Marsh! Prince Eiri was still just a boy when he was given the throne."

"He was in his twenties, Mallow. How old would he be now if he was still here? 22 years old? He should be more responsible at his age. At least the mouse pays attention to us. Prince Eiri acted like we didn't exist. I'm glad he is dead!"

"Marsh, don't say that! We don't know if Prince Eiri is really dead or not. He could still be alive right now and we probably don't know it."

"Yeah right! To tell you the truth I was glad to see that that prince is gone for good!"

"You don't know that. He could be alive. He could even be in the bar this very minute!"

They continued arguing about this 'Prince Eiri' they keep talking about. Curious as to what they were talking about, Shuichi walked over to them.

"Excuse me," he tried to get their attention, which he did luckily, "I don't mean to interrupt but I overheard your conversation and I actually have a few questions if you don't mind me asking."

Both men smiled when they saw Shuichi. "Of course," said the one that had mostly been groaning, "Please take a seat my dear!"

Shuichi did as the man told him to. "Thank you Mr…?"

The man's eyes widened. "Oh of course!" he gasped, "Where are my manners? I'm Mallow and this here is Marsh. Now, what can we do for you?"

"Well, I'm not really around here so I don't know much about this land. I overheard you saying about someone named Prince Eiri. Who is he?"

"He was the recent ruler of the Land of Sweets," he replied, "He obtained the kingdom after his father, the king before him, left us."

Shuichi gasped. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be!" Mallow assured him, "It happens to all kings. Once their sons are old enough, they leave the Land of Sweets and go someplace far away until they die."

Shuichi sighed in relief. For a moment he thought he meant that the king had passed away. "Sorry, please continue."

"Now Prince Eiri was different from all the rulers that the Land of Sweets has had so far. He was always kind of troubled when he was younger. I guess maybe because he's had so many women fall for him but never for him."

"Was Prince Eiri good looking?"

"Good looking is an understatement. All the women considered him to be the most handsome man in the entire kingdom. He was well known with his slight physique, his well cut golden hair, and he had sharp golden eyes. All women wanted to be with him, but only because they wanted money and power as well as a good looking husband. They didn't want him for his personality."

"What personality?" asked Marsh, "He's nothing more than a golden haired beauty with an icy cold heart. Who would fall for that?"

"Shut it Marsh!" Mallow hissed before facing back to Shuichi, "But anyways, because of how cruel people were to him despite the fact that he was a prince, he became cruel to them, because unlike how Marsh is telling you, the prince actually has a kind heart. He wouldn't have to be cold to people if there was someone that loved him.

"Now before Prince Eiri became ruler, there was a royal vizier that the king trusted with all his heart. That man's name was Kitazawa and he seemed to be loyal to the kingdom, but it turned out that he wanted the kingdom all to himself, especially since the kingdom was given to Prince Eiri, who wasn't that reliable with his cold heart. When Eiri was about ruler, Kitazawa planned on using magic to make the prince give him the rule. But Prince Eiri was smarter than him. He managed to put Kitazawa to death.

"But before he died, Kitazawa placed a curse on the prince. No one knows what the curse was supposed to do, but whatever it was, it caused Prince Eiri to disappear. No one has seen his face since."

"And good riddance too!" Marsh huffed, "The prince disappeared and the mouse, Taki, who was Kitazawa's apprentice despite being a mouse, had received Kitazawa's magical sceptre which helped him with all his spells and took over the kingdom."

"Some hope that Prince Eiri is still alive and would one day return to the kingdom to take it back from the mouse. Others, like Marsh here, hope that the prince is dead. But I have a feeling that he's still alive somewhere."

During the time Shuichi had been talking with Marsh and Mallow, Yuki was chasing the monkey all over the entire village. He wasn't going to lose it now. He was determined to get his arm back. But just as he was about to lose it again, the monkey was picked up by a mysterious stranger. He was completely covered from head to toe in a long cloak that covered everything, even his face. He grabbed the arm out of the monkey's possession and handed it to the nutcracker.

"I'm guessing this is yours?" he asked in a deep voice.

Yuki stared at the mysterious stranger before taking the arm back and putting it back on. It was a good thing it wasn't covered in dirt or anything. "Thanks!" he muttered before heading back to the bar. Little did he know that the stranger was smiling as the nutcracker walked away.

Yuki returned to see Shuichi sitting back at his seat drinking the rest of his hot chocolate while Yuki's eggnog was left untouched. He walked to the table and sat down. Shuichi looked up at him.

"You got your arm back?" he asked.

"Yep," the nutcracker replied, "That damn monkey was nothing but trouble. I'm glad we don't have to deal with it again."

The pink haired male was paying much attention for something caught his eye. "Yuki, what is that in your hand?"

The latter didn't know what Shuichi meant until he raised the arm that he just got back and opened his hand to see a silver heart shaped pendant there. Where did that come from? He was sure he never saw it before. He hoped that that monkey didn't use his hand as a tool for thieving. It didn't matter though, for Shuichi's eyes seemed to shine when he caught a glimpse of it. Yuki didn't know what it was about one silver pendant that seemed to make Shuichi look at it like that nor did he know what came over him when he looked into those eyes. But he did something he was not sure whether he would regret or not.

"You want it?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

Shuichi looked up at him with widened eyes. "Really? No, I couldn't."

Yuki growled before grabbing Shuichi's hand and placing the pendant into his hands. "Just take it!"

Shuichi looked down at the pendant in his hands before looking back at the nutcracker. "Thank you Yuki."

Yuki looked into Shuichi's eyes, seeing them sparkle as they looked at him. He found himself lost in those beautiful big violet orbs before replying in a softer tone: "You're welcome."

The pink haired smiled and tried to put the pendant on but he found it hard to hook it together. Yuki moved behind him and helped him hook it together. Once the pendant was properly on his neck, Shuichi looked back at Yuki and saw something he never thought he'd actually see. Before, it seemed like the nutcracker's eyes were always cold, but now, they looked gentle, and it made the gold look far more beautiful. They stared at each other, letting only their eyes do the talking.

"It's hopeless!" Marsh cried out, breaking Yuki and Shuichi from their spell, "All the villages are being destroyed by the mice, and our village may be next. Why are we sitting here? The mice will destroy us all! We need to plan for when we all die! We are gonna die everyone! We're gonna die!"

People started crying out from what Marsh said. They were really starting to believe that they were going to die. Yuki, annoyed by it, stood up onto the table and whistled.

"Everyone!" he shouted out to everyone, "Calm down! I'm sure that you all aren't going to die. If you let the mice kill you, you'll only just give them the perfect satisfaction. You shouldn't just sit on your asses and let those mice take over you like puppets. You should fight them and fight for your kingdom. Only then will you win."

Marsh stormed over to Yuki while Mallow tried to pull him back. "And just who are you to tell us what to do huh?" he snarled, "Why should we listen to a word you say?"

"What do you mean 'Who am I?'" Yuki snapped back, "I'm-!"

But before Yuki could say anything, his mouth was forced closed. The only sound he could make was mumbling. No one could understand what he was saying. He stopped after trying and bluntly replied: "I can't tell you."

This angered Marsh. He tried to get his hands on Yuki and break him to pieces but Mallow kept a good hold on him. Everyone began fighting and yelling at each other. The only people that weren't doing anything were the staff, the performers, and Shuichi. The latter knew he had to figure out someway to get them to stop fighting and to calm them down. After seeing the piano, he got an idea. He ran up the stage and asked the pianist already sitting there if he could play a little something before sitting down beside him.

He began to play; the piano had the most beautiful tune. He played a slow jingle, causing everyone to stop what they were doing. Once he got their attention, he began to sing with his dainty voice.

_Shuichi_

_Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock_

_Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring_

_Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun_

_Now the jingle hop has begun._

The rest of the musicians began playing and the pianist was in control of the piano again. Shuichi stood up and began moving to the rhythm of the music as he sang. Everyone looked at him with eyes that looked like they desired him, but none were as great as Yuki's, for he wanted Shuichi more than they did.

_Shuichi_

_Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock_

_Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring_

_Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun_

_Now the jingle hop has begun._

_Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock_

_Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time_

_Dancing and prancing in Jingle Bell Square_

_In the frosty air._

_What a bright time, it's the right time_

_To rock the night away._

_Jingle bell time is a swell time_

_To go gliding in a one horse sleigh._

_Oh, giddy up jingle horse, pick up your feet_

_Jingle around the clock_

_Mix and a-mingle in the jingling feet_

_That's the jingle bell rock._

_Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock_

_Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time_

_Dancing and prancing in Jingle Bell Square_

_In the frosty air._

_What a bright time, it's the right time_

_To rock the night away._

_Jingle bell time is a swell time_

_To go gliding in a one horse sleigh._

_Giddy up jingle horse, pick up your feet_

_Jingle around the clock._

_Mix and a-mingle in a jingling feet_

_That's the jingle bell_

_That's the jingle bell_

_That's the jingle bell_

_That's the jingle bell_

_That's the jingle bell_

_That's the jingle bell rock._

_That's the jingle bell rock._

Everyone in the bar cheered after Shuichi sang. The pink haired boy smiled with all the applause that they gave him, especially because Yuki was one of them. He wasn't whistling or anything like that, but he was clapping with a slight smile on his face. And that was enough for Shuichi.

After everything in the bar, they met up with Riku, who told them that the village leader wanted to see them. Curious as to what it was, they followed Riku to the biggest house of them all. This was the village leader's house, where the village leader did everything to keep the village safe. When they walked inside, they were greeted by a scary looking woman sitting comfortably in a chair. She smiled at them.

"Welcome to the Gingerbread Village," she exclaimed, "My name is Reiji and I am the village leader. I heard from Riku that you were able to keep him and the Wishing Doll safe from the mice and that you three came here together. For that I thank you, for if not for you we would be doomed for sure.

"I also heard about you singing at the bar to calm them down after a panic attack. I thank you for that too. Do you know how many times those idiots do that? It gets annoying so I'm glad someone calmed them down."

"It-It was no problem ma'am," Shuichi replied, "If I could I could do it again."

"How about the next time they have a panic attack? Those guys can get really violent," Shuichi just stared at her with fear. Reiji laughed. "I'm joking. You both are guests here, so please stay as long as you like. We are honoured to have you both here."

And so that night, Shuichi and Yuki stayed at the village leader's house as she knew they would need a proper place to sleep. It was also quite a surprise that Riku stayed there too, as he was an orphan and was brought up by Reiji as she was a good friend of Riku's aunt who passed away not that long ago. That night, in Riku's request, Shuichi came to the young boy's room and tucked him into bed. He was about to leave until Riku asked a question.

"Shuichi?" he spoke up, "Is there anything you wish for?"

The pink haired male looked at him with curiosity. "What's do you mean?" he asked.

"Is there anything you want more than anything?" He raised up the Wishing Doll. "I want you to make a wish on him."

Shuichi's eyes widened. "No, I couldn't."

"Please Shuichi!" said Riku, "I insist! You and Yuki saved my life today and I'm sure Yuki isn't really interested on making a wish on him. Besides, I've had people wish on him before. Their wishes come true afterwards. I want you to wish on him."

Shuichi wasn't sure if he should but decided to in the end. He walked over to the bed and took the doll from Riku's hands. He looked deep into the doll's eyes, thinking about what he wanted. Riku looked at him in wonder.

"What is your wish Shuichi?" he asked.

Shuichi was quiet. "Well, I've always wanted to find true love. All I ever wanted was to find someone who would love me for me and that we would live happily ever after like in fairytales. But now, it's an inferior wish compared to what I want now," He smiled. "Back where I come from, there is a song that perfectly describes what I want, and it helps that the Wishing Doll looks like someone from where I come from.

Riku just sat there in silence as Shuichi kept his eyes on the doll and remembering the words of the song that perfectly conveyed what he wanted the most. He closed his eyes for a bit, trying to remember the melody, then opened his eyes and began to sing.

_Shuichi_

_Do you remember me?_

_I sat upon your knee_

_I wrote to you with childhood fantasies._

_Well, I'm all grown up now_

_And still need help somehow_

_I'm not a child but my heart still can dream._

_So here's my lifelong wish_

_My grown up Christmas list_

_Not for myself but for a world in need._

_No more lives torn apart_

_And wars will never start_

_And time would heal our hearts_

_And everyone would have a friend_

_And right would always win_

_And love would never end_

_This is my grown up Christmas list._

Shuichi looked back at Riku, who was already fast asleep, and put the Wishing Doll back into the young boy's possession before walking out of the room. Shuichi knew he couldn't sleep, so he decided to stroll around the lake. When he got there, the lake looked like it glowed under the light of the full moon. As he walked, Shuichi couldn't get the song out of his head and decided to continue singing where he left off.

_Shuichi_

_As children we believed_

_The greatest sight to see_

_Was something lovely wrapped beneath the tree._

_But heaven only knows_

_That packages and bows_

_Could never heal a hurting human soul._

_No more lives torn apart_

_And wars will never start_

_And time would heal our hearts_

_And everyone would have a friend_

_And right would always win_

_And love would never end_

_This is my grown up Christmas list._

_What is this illusion called the innocence of youth?_

_Maybe only in a blind belief can we ever find the truth._

Shuichi began to realize something. Maybe _this_ was the reason why he was brought to the Land of Sweets. Maybe he was brought here to help the people defeat the Mouse King and help them get their home back.

_Shuichi_

_No more lives torn apart_

_And wars will never start_

_And time would heal our hearts_

_And everyone would have a friend_

_And right would always win_

_And love would never end_

_This is my grown up Christmas list_

_This is my only life long wish_

_This is my grown up Christmas list._

Shuichi looked up at the sky and stared at the moon before he heard someone walking towards him. He turned around to see Yuki there, relieved to see him. The nutcracker had been looking all over the place for Shuichi when he saw that the pink haired male wasn't in bed. He walked over to him and stood beside him, doing like Shuichi did and staring up at the moon. They continued this until Shuichi spoke up.

"Yuki?" he spoke up, "Do you think maybe you can answer a question I've been curious to know?"

Yuki looked over at him. "Does the question have some importance to it or is it something stupid?"

"Trust me, it's important."

The nutcracker sighed. "Alright, what is it?"

Shuichi took a deep breath before asking his question. "What do you know about Prince Eiri?"

Yuki almost fell into the lake with that question. "W-Why the hell do you ask that? In fact, where did you hear that name?"

Shuichi was surprised with Yuki's reaction. "Well, I heard a couple men talk about him and then I asked to learn about him. I was wondering since you know a lot about the Land of Sweets you could tell me what you know and what you think about him."

The nutcracker turned away. "I… know about him just as much as everyone else."

"Have you ever met him Yuki? What's he like? Is he really cold hearted to everyone or does he hide a gentle nature?"

"Why do you want to know?" Yuki snapped as he looked back at the pink haired boy, "If you really want to know, he's a cold hearted bastard to everyone and that's why he got what he deserved!" He realized what he just did and turned away again.

Shuichi stared at him for a bit before speaking again. "I'm guessing you're one of those people that thinks he deserves death, huh?"

"I didn't say he deserves death. In fact, I'm not like most of those people. Most of them believe that Prince Eiri may be dead but I _know_ he's still alive. A man that stubborn can't die that easily."

The pink haired boy chuckled. "Yep, he sure sounds like one stubborn bastard, but I don't believe he is as cold hearted as people make him seem. I'm sure that he might actually be a sweetie and that he's cold hearted to people because he's lonely. I can relate."

Yuki looked back at him in disbelief. "What do you mean?"

"I know how cold people can be when all you really want is for someone to love you," he continued, "In all my 18 years of life, I've never had anyone love me for me that wasn't either a family member or only considered me as a friend."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Yuki asked, "I've seen guys here fall all over the place for you."

"But that's because everyone here thinks I'm a girl. Back home I was considered as nothing more than a freak, especially because of my feminine looks. Even after becoming a famous rock star, no one ever looked at me with a loving look, and if they did it was only because they wanted to be with me just to be popular. It was never for me."

Yuki was touched with everything Shuichi said. He tried to keep his gaze away from the boy. "W-Would you really like Prince Eiri if you ever met him face to face?"

"Maybe I already do!" Shuichi replied as he looked at Yuki with a smile. Yuki looked back and almost smiled back but managed to stop himself from doing so. "In fact, he might not even be the same Prince Eiri I've been told about. Maybe he could've changed, like if he was scared from something or if he found something that could change him for good, like a lover."

"Maybe," said Yuki, "It's like you said; he's probably lonely. A lover would no doubt change him."

"But it can't just be anyone," said Shuichi as he began pacing around slowly, "It would no doubt be someone that could properly catch his heart, someone beautiful."

"Definitely," Yuki agreed as he watched Shuichi move around like as if the nutcracker was in a trance."

"And maybe this person is brave."

"Absolutely."

"And obviously kind."

"Like an angel."

"This person may have something that causes them to stand out from anybody in the entire world!" Shuichi squealed as he spun around and almost tripped until Yuki caught him.

"A personality unlike anything he's ever seen!" Yuki replied softly.

Shuichi looked up into the nutcracker's eyes and his own began to sparkle. "Most of all," he spoke in a whisper, "That person would look into his eyes… and would yearn to kiss him."

Yuki sighed softly. "And he would also yearn… to kiss the only one who would ever love him and who he loves in return."

Slowly they moved closer to each other and closed their lips were closer and closer to touching, almost bringing them into a deep kiss. Their lips were about to touch until they felt the ground vibrate. Shuichi held tightly to Yuki as he feared what would be coming their way. It came closer and closer until they saw what it was. It was Taki the Mouse King riding on a giant creature that looked like a giant cockroach with thousands of other cockroaches behind them. The Mouse King looked over at the nutcracker.

"Hello Nutcracker!" said the mouse, "I'm not going to repeat myself so listen carefully. Give up and surrender your life to me!"

Yuki snorted. "And I'm not going to repeat myself so listen to _me_ carefully. I'll never surrender to anyone, especially a rat like you."

Taki smirked. "Then I suppose you won't like what I'm about to do to this village. If you don't surrender, the Gingerbread Village will be food to my cockroaches, and being the man you are, you don't really want anything to happen to the people that live here."

The nutcracker knew he was trapped between a rock and a hard place. It was either surrender or have the villagers killed. Before he could make an answer, Shuichi stormed over to the mouse.

"What the hell is your problem?" he yelled, "What do you have against Yuki? He's never done anything to you!"

The mouse looked over at the pink haired boy in fury and with his magic, he picked the boy up and brought him closer to him, making sure that the boy couldn't do anything to him. "And why do I need a reason to want to destroy him? Even if I did have a reason I would never tell a wench like you. However," With his magic he pulled Shuichi towards him. "I can see why the nutcracker likes you. I bet you would rather be a queen than a nutcracker's bride."

Shuichi sat in his face. "I would never be your queen even if my life depended on it!" he snapped.

This did not please the Mouse King. "You dare talk like that to me, you little bitch? I'll show you-"

"Wait!"

All eyes were directed onto Yuki, who looked at them with fear. "Let Shuichi go!" he cried.

The mouse smirked. "I don't know," he replied, "I kinda like her. She's feisty and hard to get, just what I like in a girl like her."

Yuki just kept staring up as Taki tried to make advances on Shuichi while the latter was trying to pull away. The nutcracker knew what to do and he sighed. "Let Shuichi go and you can do whatever you want to me, even kill me."

Shuichi looked over at the nutcracker with worry. "Yuki no!" he cried.

Taki's smirk grew bigger. "Done!" With his sceptre he dropped Shuichi then made a cage around Yuki that flew up and followed the mouse and his cockroaches to where he knew was Taki's castle. Shuichi got himself back up after falling, but Taki created a smoke screen, causing the pink haired boy to be temporarily blind and coughing. Once the smoke disappeared, Shuichi opened his eyes and Yuki and the mouse along with the cockroaches were no where to be seen.

**Pinkshuchan: More and more things seem to happen with every chapter. What will happen now? The songs used in this chapter are Jingle Bell Rock in the style of Charice and My Grown Up Christmas List in the style of Kelly Clarkson. Read and Review!**


	10. The Sugarplum Kuma

**Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! Hey this is Pinkshuchan! The story is getting closer and closer to the end and I only have a few days to put all the chapters in. Luckily, these next chapters won't be as long as the last chapter so this story should be done by Christmas Eve. I don't own the song used in this chapter. Anyways, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 10

The Sugarplum Kuma

Right after Yuki had been taken by the Mouse King, Shuichi tried looking for help. He ran back to the village and asked for help. No one would try to help him; they wouldn't even give him the directions to the Mouse King's castle. They all told him that he would be committing suicide to go there. In the end, Shuichi was giving squat and it frustrated him. After being rejected by the villagers, he ran back to the lake, hoping there was at least something to show him the way.

But there wasn't a single trace of anything.

Shuichi gave up. No one was going to help him and nothing could show him the way. She stood there, staring at the lake and began to cry. His tears welled up but wouldn't fall no matter what he did. He then imagined Yuki and an entire montage of him dancing with the nutcracker appeared in his mind.

It began with Yuki lending his hand to Shuichi as they stood by the lake. When the pink haired male took it, he was brought into the nutcracker's arms and they began to dance. It felt so real that Shuichi actually started dancing. Twirling in the arms of his beloved nutcracker, he gazed into those golden orbs until they stopped. They stared at each other as Yuki wiped away Shuichi's tears with his wooden hand. Then they closed their eyes and leaned in to kiss each other until the imaginative Yuki disappeared, causing Shuichi to fall into the soft green grass. He looked up before remembering that the Yuki in front of him was only from his thoughts. He got up and just sat there, his tears actually falling this time, shining under the light of the moon, because he knew that he may never see his beloved nutcracker again.

But now let's cue in the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy, shall we?

Suddenly, what looked like big light pink sparkles began raining down over the entire lake. Shuichi looked up at looked at all of them. He was confused. Why was there light pink sparkles raining around him. He then heard a voice.

"Please do not cry!" said the voice, "Seeing you cry makes me want to cry, and that's not sparkly at all!"

Shuichi looked around. "Who's there?" he called out, unsure where it was coming from. He then looked up to see a light pink sparkle that seemed to be bigger than the others. When it reached the ground, a figure appeared before him…

And was facing the opposite direction with his back facing Shuichi.

The figure appeared to look like a giant pink rabbit with light blue fairy wings wearing blue overalls with a golden chain around its neck and a golden crown on its head. Facing the opposite direction of Shuichi, the rabbit began blabbing away.

"Hello there Sparkly Shuichi," the rabbit began, "I know that it must be a shock to see me standing here in front of you, but I just couldn't stand to watch you cry. I like to keep everything here in the Land of Sweets 'sparkly' because who doesn't like sparklies?"

As the giant rabbit spoke, a smaller sparkle but still bigger than the other sparkles, came down and revealed a small pink rabbit that also had light blue fairy wings with big beady eyes and a golden pendant with a ruby on its neck. The smaller rabbit realized what the bigger rabbit was doing and tried to get its attention. The bigger rabbit wouldn't respond to the little rabbit and continued talking until he realized: "Hey! Where did Sparkly Shuichi go?" The smaller rabbit tapped the bigger rabbit's shoulder and pointed to Shuichi's actual location, in which now the latter was standing. The bigger rabbit turned around with a big "Oh! There you are!"

Shuichi managed to get a good look at the bigger rabbit's face, which shocked him that the bigger rabbit was actually a guy in a bunny suit. He had short brown hair, ocean blue eyes, and a goofy expression. Shuichi stared at him for a bit with his head tilted before he spoke up.

"What is the Easter Bunny doing in a Christmas story?" he asked.

"Silly Sparkly Shuichi!" the rabbit guy fairy thing replied, "I'm not the Easter Bunny. At least not in this particular moment, as it's only a part time job I take every Easter. I'm Ryuichi, the Sugarplum Kuma!"

The pink haired male gasped. "_You're_ the Sugarplum Kuma?" Ryuichi nodded. Shuichi's gaping face became a face of rage. "Where the hell were you? Yuki and I called for your help six chapters ago!"

The Sugarplum Kuma nodded. "Yes, you and your silly nutcracker friend wanted a few things. The nutcracker wanted to defeat the mouse that was after him and you wanted to return home where you belonged. But that changed, didn't it? Secretly you don't want to return home now. All you want is to stay here with your beloved nutcracker!"

Shuichi lowered his head before realizing something and looked back up at the fairy in the bunny costume. "Wait a moment! How do you know that?"

"You think that just because I didn't show up in front of you when you called for me, I wasn't there with you at all?" Ryuichi asked, "Ever since you called me out for help I had been watching you."

This confused the pink haired boy. "What do you mean?"

The Sugarplum Kuma waved his paw and summoned a shiny pink laptop. He then began clicking through and looked up the story 'A Gravitation Nutcracker'. Once he found it, he went through all the chapters.

"Here we go!" said Ryuichi, "In chapter 4 it said that someone was watching you even though you didn't realize it. That was me! And that entire bit with the candy cane monkey from chapters 6 to 9, the monkey was Kumagoro in disguise, isn't that right Kumagoro?" The pink bunny nodded. "And the mysterious man that got Yuki's arm back in chapter 9 was me again disguising my voice and it was me that slipped that silver pendant you're wearing on your neck. You see? I didn't appear in front of you because I knew that if I did, you wouldn't be feeling the things you feel now. I think that these feelings you feel now are better than not knowing them at all."

Shuichi lowered his head again. "But now Yuki is held captive by the Mouse King who plans to kill him. I need to reach his castle before he makes firewood out of my Yuki, but I don't know where it is nor do I have a way to get there."

Ryuichi placed his paw on Shuichi's shoulder. "Of course you have a way to get there!" he replied. "You just need to believe you can, and what better time to believe than on Christmas Day. Once you believe you can do anything."

The pink haired boy shook his head. "There's no way it could be _that_ easy!"

The Sugarplum Kuma moved his paw to Shuichi's hand and held it as he began guiding Shuichi around. "You just haven't properly tried it yourself! In fact, no one ever does. In order to do anything they want, all they have to do is believe." He giggled. "Yay! It's time for _my_ musical number." And then Ryuichi began to sing.

_Ryuichi_

_Children sleeping, snow is softly falling_

_Dreams are calling like bells in the distance._

_We were dreamers not so long ago_

_But one by one we all had to grow up._

_When it seems the magic slipped away_

_We find it all again on Christmas Day._

_Believe in what your heart is saying_

_Hear the melody that's playing._

_There's no time to waste_

_It's time to celebrate._

_Believe in what you feel inside_

_And give your dreams the wings to fly._

_You have everything you need_

_If you just believe._

Ryuichi began to fly, taking Shuichi with him. The pink haired male screamed with suddenly being carried into the sky. He closed his eyes, not wanting to look down. He didn't want to fall. He just wanted to stay up there if he could. But after wondering what was going on and why he couldn't feel Ryuichi's paw anymore. He opened his eyes to see that he was floating in the air by himself without any support. Ryuichi then led Shuichi across the lake and over many patches of land and ocean. As they flew, Ryuichi continued with showing everything he was talking about.

_Ryuichi_

_Trains move quickly to their journey's end_

_Destinations are where we begin again._

_Ships go sailing far across the sea_

_Trusting starlight to get where they need to be._

_When it seems that we have lost out way_

_We find ourselves again on Christmas Day._

_Believe in what your heart is saying_

_Hear the melody that's playing._

_There's no time to waste_

_It's time to celebrate._

_Believe in what you feel inside_

_And give your dreams the wings to fly._

_You have everything you need_

_If you just believe._

_If you just believe._

_If you just believe._

_If you just believe._

_Just believe._

_Just believe._

Ryuichi covered Shuichi's eyes with his paws, making him unable to see anything else. When the Sugarplum Kuma moved his hands, Shuichi found that they were standing at a castle. Could it be? Shuichi looked around but tried to keep himself hidden. He knew where he was the moment he saw the mouse soldiers.

He was at the Mouse King's castle.

Shuichi was so filled with joy that he hugged Ryuichi. "Thank you!" he cried, "Thank you so much!" He then opened up his eyes to see that Ryuichi already disappeared. The pink haired male took that as a sign that said 'Just go find your nutcracker!' Shuichi nodded to himself and began roaming around, trying to find where he could find Yuki.

Even though he left the spot where he was with Shuichi, he didn't move far. Ryuichi and Kumagoro were watching Shuichi from above. Kumagoro began saying something in rabbit speech that shocked the Sugarplum Kuma.

"You worry about him?" he asked, "You think that without us right there beside him he might not be able to save his nutcracker?" Kumagoro nodded. "Well, why don't you go with him? Keep a close eye on him! I'm sure you would be able to protect him just fine."

Kumagoro nodded before disappearing, leaving the Sugarplum Kuma to watch from above.

**Pinkshuchan: Yay! Shuichi may just be able to save Yuki after all! The song used this chapter in Believe by Josh Groban. It's a good song. Read and Review!**


	11. Nutcracker vs Mouse King

**Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! Hey, it's Pinkshuchan! Last chapter, with the help of Ryuichi the Sugarplum Kuma, Shuichi managed to get to the Mouse King's castle to save Yuki. What will happen once he reaches him? Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**

Chapter 11

Nutcracker vs. Mouse King

Shuichi snuck around the castle after he managed to find a way in to see where Yuki could be held, but with no such luck. Everywhere he went there was no sign of the nutcracker. He worried that he might've been too late to find Yuki and he's now turned into firewood or something. But he couldn't give up. It was like Ryuichi said; he had to believe. He had to believe that Yuki was still alive and held somewhere in the castle. There was no way he could be dead right now.

He kept sneaking around until he saw something pop right in front of him and he jumped with a tiny squeak. It turned out to be only Kumagoro, Ryuichi's bunny companion. Shuichi sighed in relief and lowered his guard.

"Kumagoro what are you doing here?" he asked, "I thought you're still with the Sugarplum Kuma," Kumagoro did some talk in rabbit language, but after realizing that Shuichi didn't understand him, he did some sign language. The pink haired male managed to understand that. "You're going to help me find Yuki? No wait, you already know where he is?" The pink fairy rabbit nodded. "Where is he?"

Cue in the Chinese Dance! Kumagoro flew to one area where he knew Shuichi could reach and gave the signal for the pink haired male to follow. Shuichi tiptoed his way to where Kumagoro was, which was easy because the ballet slippers he wore were really quiet when it came to moving around. After he reached Kumagoro, the latter moved somewhere else and instructed Shuichi to follow. Like the first time, Shuichi tiptoed his way to Kumagoro. This repeated a couple times, one of the times Kumagoro took a look around to double check which way was the right way.

They finally reached a stairway that led down deep in the castle. Kumagoro cheered and began flying down as fast as he could. Shuichi moved a little faster than he did before while moving through the castle. Hearing Kumagoro calling him from the bottom, he moved a little faster until he was running down the stairs. It wasn't a smart move on his part though because he accidentally tripped over his own two feet and began rolling down the stairs.

Faster and faster he rolled, unable to control himself. With how fast he was rolling, he was beginning to feel nauseous. He stopped rolling the moment he reached the bottom and smashed into a door. That had _got_ to hurt.

"Ow!" he whimpered, "I'm never doing that again!" Kumagoro flew over to him and pointed to the door. Shuichi got up and looked. "Is that where they have Yuki?" Kumagoro nodded. "How do you know it's the right cell?"

The fairy rabbit threw in through the tiny barred window and cause a familiar voice to yell out: "What the hell? Why the hell is there a damn rabbit with wings in here?" Shuichi definitely recognized it to be Yuki's voice.

"Yuki?" Shuichi called into the cell, "Is that really you in there?"

Yuki looked over at the door. "Shuichi? Shuichi is that you?"

Shuichi smiled. It was Yuki! "Don't worry! I'm going to get you out of there!" He began looking around for something to knock the door down. He tried using his own body, he tried using a bar broken off one of the windows, he tried using a giant mace which I don't even know where he got it; he even tried using a tiny bobby pin to pick the lock. But nothing would open the door. Kumagoro came out of the cell and whistled to get Shuichi's attention. The pink haired male looked over to see Kumagoro pointing to something Shuichi never thought of using.

The ring of actual cell keys hanging on the walls beside the door.

Shuichi mentally slapped himself before grabbing the keys and tried opening the door. There were millions of keys on the ring and only one was the one that would open Yuki's cell door. It took him 397 times before he found the key to Yuki's cell. He opened the door and ran over to Yuki to hug him.

"Yuki I'm so glad you're alright!" he cried, letting his tears fall on the wooden should, "I was worried you would already been turned into firewood from that big jerk of a rat!"

"Shuichi," Yuki sighed, "I would either wrap my arms around you in comfort or push you away in annoyance right now if I could but if you can't already see, I'm armless and legless right now."

Shuichi moved back to see that the nutcracker was right. All that was there of the nutcracker was his head and torso. His arms and legs were missing. "Yuki, what did he do to you?"

"Nothing really," he replied, "Just that those mouse soldiers hid my arms and legs somewhere in this entire dungeon. They did it in case I'd escape from their grasp."

"And you don't know where?"

"If I did, I'd tell you but I don't," the nutcracker growled, "Would you hurry up and find them? I feel like the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

Shuichi walked over to Kumagoro. "Do you know where his arms and legs might be?" he asked. Kumagoro nodded and led Shuichi across the dungeon. Together they were able to find Yuki's arms and legs from all over. They were placed in lots of different places all over but I'm not going to go into any detail on where they were. As soon as they found them, they brought them back to Yuki and put them back on him. Yuki gave Shuichi pointers on which arm and leg goes on which side.

They eventually got them on properly and Yuki was back to regular self. The latter didn't bother to ask where Shuichi found them as he knew he wouldn't want to know. They ran up the stairs and tried to escape the castle. They found themselves at the front foyer and were almost home free, but the way out was locked.

"And where do you think you're going?"

They turned around to see Taki and his soldiers standing there. The soldiers all had spears in their paws and the Mouse King stood there with his sceptre. Shuichi stood close to Yuki while the nutcracker glared at the mice.

"Yuki, we need to run!" Shuichi cried in a whisper.

"We can't," said Yuki, "If we run he'll be chasing us until we can't run anymore. Besides, that rodent had been terrorizing the people long enough. It's about time he steps down."

Shuichi grabbed Yuki's arm to stop him. "I don't want to see you get hurt!"

"Then close your eyes! I have to fight this battle; for myself, for the people in the Land of Sweets, and for you. If I don't fight him who will?"

Shuichi stared at him for a bit before looking down at the ground, loosening his grip, and letting his arm fall. Yuki faced the Mouse King and drew his sword. He was determined to defeat the mouse no matter what. The mouse smirked at him.

"Are you sure you want to take me on?" he asked the nutcracker curiously, "Your little girlfriend is right; it would be safer for you to run away."

"I've been running away for too long," said Yuki, "Either I fight you or give up on myself entirely."

Taki raised his sceptre. "Bad choice Nutcracker! Prepare to die!"

A duel between Yuki and Taki began. Yuki the nutcracker vs. Taki the Mouse King. A fierce battle that may take centuries before it stops. Okay, I may be exaggerating there but you know what I mean. In fact, the battle isn't really going to be taking a day, but it would seem like it's been going on for days. Yuki's sword kept clashing with Taki's sceptre, making it a tie. However, Taki was not going to play fair, because with a snap of a finger he summoned his guards to surround them and raise their spears at Yuki. The nutcracker found himself trapped. This did not make Shuichi any happier.

"Hey, that's not fair!" he snapped at the Mouse King, "Yuki cannot take on all you mice by himself!"

The Mouse King looked over at Shuichi and smirked. "Exactly!"

The pink haired boy growled at him. "You are nothing more than a rotten cowardly evil bastard of a rat!"

The mice fell silent. Taki glared at Shuichi before he walked to the boy and gripped the peach coloured arm. "And you are nothing more than a naïve idiotic bitch!" said the mouse, "This nutcracker is not worth anything. He's not attractive or kind, so why defend him?"

Shuichi lowered his head. "It's true that he doesn't look gorgeous and he would always insult anyone he talks to. There had been moments when I wished that I could get away from him. But then I got to see the real him. No, I already saw the real him and refused to believe it to be him. When I look at him, I don't see an old worn ugly nutcracker, I see a beautiful prince who I can always depend on. And he's cold to me sometimes, but he actually has a kind heart. He just needs to know that no matter what, alive or dead, he will always be loved. I am and always will be in love with him."

Taki fell back in shock before pushing Shuichi down to the ground. "You _love_ him? Him? No one is to fall in love with him! NO ONE!" The mouse was about to do something until they heard the door slam open. Everyone looked to see a crowd in front of them. It was the entire Gingerbread Village led by Reiji and Riku. Reiji looked down at the little boy.

"Would you like to do the honours?" she asked.

Riku nodded. "Everyone! ATTACK!"

A full out war between the villagers and the mice soldiers began, and it was just Yuki and the Mouse King left to fight. They continued clashing their weapons as millions of battles surrounded them. Shuichi watched as everyone was fighting for their kingdom. Slowly but surely, the villagers were winning and the mice retreated. All except one ran.

That one was the Mouse King.

Yuki raised his sword. "Give up Mouse!" he told Taki, "All your soldiers ran. You don't have anyone to back you up."

Taki smirked. "Who said I needed them to keep this kingdom as my own? I have my sceptre. I don't need them. I'll defeat you and the kingdom will forever belong to me!"

Shuichi, worried on what it would do to Yuki, ran towards the mouse and grabbed hold of the sceptre. The mouse struggled to keep it in his grasp as Shuichi fought for it.

He growled. "You little bitch! Let go!"

"No!" Shuichi cried, "I'm not going to let you lay a paw on my nutcracker!"

The pink haired male wasn't able to keep his hold on the sceptre, for Taki was too big and too strong for him. He was knocked off his feet and staring up at the mouse who was standing over him. The mouse raised his sceptre.

"You've been nothing but a nuisance since the very beginning!" said Taki, "I should've gotten rid of you long ago! Oh well, no time like the present."

The Mouse King was about to cast a spell on Shuichi until Yuki jumped in front of him with his sword and with the metal of the sword, he blocked the mouse's attack and reflected it back to the mouse. Taki's sceptre was destroyed and he was defenceless. The villagers chased him out of the castle until he reached the edge of a cliff and fell to what would be his doom. The villagers cheered that they were free from the Mouse King at last, but something caught Shuichi's eye that he hoped it didn't.

"YUKI!"

**Pinkshuchan: CLIFFHANGER! Don't ya just hate them? Luckily, you won't have to wait long. With Christmas coming soon, I'll be picking up the pace to finish the last chapter. Yes, the next chapter is the last. Sad but happy that it's done. Expect the last chapter sometime this week. Read and Review everyone!**


	12. True Love

**Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! Hey everyone! This is Pinkshuchan here! We've finally made it, the final chapter of A Gravitation Nutcracker. It would be a lie if I said that I didn't enjoy every moment when working on this story, but that's usually the case with a lot of my stories. But if this story made you laugh throughout the entire thing I'm glad. Anyways, here it is, the last chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 12

True Love

"YUKI!"

Shuichi ran over to Yuki, who took a huge impact after defending Shuichi with his sword from Taki's magic and was lying on the floor injured. The pink haired boy sat beside him as soon as he reached him and leaned close to him. The nutcracker's eyes were closed for a bit, but after he felt Shuichi close to him he opened them and looked deep into those big tearful violet eyes.

"Shuichi," he spoke in a hoarse whisper, "You didn't get hurt, did you?"

"Yuki, why?" Shuichi sobbed, "Why did you do that? I told you I didn't want to see you get hurt."

The nutcracker chuckled weakly. "If I had let that mouse have his way, who would I have beside me to annoy and worry me everyday?" His eyelids began to feel heavy and his voice was drifting. Shuichi could see what was going on and it was the very thing he feared the most.

His sobs became cries. "No Yuki! Keep your eyes open! You have to stay alive. You _need_ to stay alive! Please Yuki stay alive! Stay alive for yourself, for the people here in front of you, for me. Please Yuki! Please!"

But Shuichi's pleas were not able to reach Yuki, for his eyes slowly closed and he lied there as the very thing he was meant to be; a lifeless doll only meant to be hold, to not move or speak, and to not feel anything for the person holding him. Shuichi sat there in silence, looking down at the one he loved more than anything, letting his tears fall and drop onto the cold wooden body.

"YUKI!" he cried as he swiftly wrapped his arms around the no longer animate nutcracker. He never dared to let him go, even if anyone tried to pull him away. But everyone else had been watching the scene played before them and hung their heads down in apology for Shuichi's lost. Some of them even started to cry. But none of them cried as hard as Shuichi, for his cries could be heard all throughout the castle.

"Please Yuki!" Shuichi cried in an almost whisper as his face was flushed pink and his eyes were red from the warm heavy tears, "Please don't leave me! Please!" He leaned closer until his soft warm pink lips touched Yuki's cold white wooden ones. He then pulled away and rested his head on the nutcracker's broad chest. "I love you."

The entire castle was silent as they mourned the death of the brave yet slightly cold nutcracker. Although many didn't know him very well, they felt like they had known him all their lives. They knew they would forever be living a life that was given to them from one who gave up everything.

But then, a miracle happened.

The nutcracker's body began to glow gold and his body was lifted up into the air. Shuichi pulled away and stared up at his beloved's body floating up there. It didn't stay up for long, for after Yuki was up the highest he could go, the golden light formed around him flashed and he was lowered back to the ground. As soon as he touched the hard surface and he stayed there supporting himself with his hands and knees, Shuichi slowly walked over to him. He was not sure of what had happened and he wasn't sure if the one in front of Yuki or not.

"Yuki?" Shuichi spoke up, moving closer to the figure in front of him.

The figure didn't answer, for he was staring at himself in shock through the reflection on the clear castle floor. He sat up so his was sitting on his legs and began roaming his hands over his face. He then stood up slowly and turned to everyone, revealing his face. Everyone managed to get a good look at him.

It was a tall man dressed in the same clothes as Yuki did without the hat with short perfectly trimmed golden hair and skin as white as snow. The villagers froze in shock before one of them spoke up.

"It's Prince Eiri!" said one of the villagers, "Prince Eiri has returned!"

The man, Prince Eiri, looked over at Shuichi who was staring at him in surprise. The golden haired prince slowly walked over to Shuichi. When he finally reached him, he grabbed his hands and held them tight.

"Shuichi," the prince responded in a familiar voice, "It's me."

The pink haired boy stared up into the prince's eyes and saw the truth. He had golden eyes similar to that of his nutcracker. He realized then that the prince was indeed his beloved nutcracker. Fresh tears began running down his face.

"Yuki!" he cried, jumping into Eiri's arms and holding him tightly. Eiri almost fell with the sudden movement and glared at the boy.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he growled.

Shuichi looked up at him. "I'm sorry Yuki. It's just… I thought… And now you're... Oh Yuki!"

Eiri just looked into Shuichi's eyes and wiped away the fresh tears welling up in those beautiful violet orbs with his thumb. They stared at each other, letting only their eyes convey what words wouldn't. They leaned closer and closer to each other until their lips touched and became a beautiful loving kiss.

The Land of Sweets seemed to have grown brighter from that one kiss then it did before. When the Mouse King took over, it became a world almost dark and sorrowful. But now, it glowed with the radiance that made it desirable in the first place. Magic swept across the land, ridding any depressing thoughts that could come.

But it wasn't just the land. After that kiss, Shuichi began to glow. When the glow disappeared he was no longer wearing the light pink ballerina outfit. At least, it wasn't a light pink one anymore. He was now wearing a sparkly light blue romantic tutu that exposed some white petticoats and a sparkly light blue bodice with thick poofy straps under his shoulders. Light blue slippers replaced the light pink ones he wore. But that wasn't all. The magic seemed to have given him hair extensions, making his hair look like it was all the way down his back, with a silver tiara on the top of his head. The entire ballerina outfit made him look more feminine looking than before. The only thing that didn't change from his appearance was the silver heart shaped pendant around his neck.

Eiri looked at everything in confusion, even Shuichi's clothes. "Okay, what the hell is going on?" He asked gruffly, "Why does Shuichi look more like a girl and why does the entire place feel warm and fuzzy a few minutes after the mouse was defeated?"

"Perhaps I can explain."

Everyone looked over to see Ryuichi standing there with his usual goofy grin. Shuichi gasped. "The Sugarplum Kuma!"

Ryuichi walked over to them. "You see Prince Eiri; you were turned into a nutcracker before Kitazawa's death. It was because of a curse he placed on you. The curse turned you into an old worn down and just plain ugly nutcracker, unable to speak, unable to move, unable to feel. The only cure was if you found someone and not just anyone. That someone would be able to see the you within; your inner beauty. But that would just grant you the ability to do the things you could as a human; to speak, move, and feel. The curse still made you unable to reveal your true self though. Only if the person that fell in love with you gave you true love's kiss would the spell be truly broken and return you into your old self; a handsome golden haired prince."

Eiri couldn't believe what he was hearing. "So you're saying that all I had to do was have Shuichi kiss me and I would've been back to normal."

"Yep!"

Shuichi began to understand. "And if you _did_ come when we called you, sent me home, and helped Yuki fight the Mouse King…!"

"Even after defeating the mouse he would still be an old worn down ugly nutcracker. Not to mention I just love good romance stories."

Eiri felt duped. He couldn't believe that the Sugarplum Kuma _meant _for everything that happened to happen. Well, there _was_ a bright side to this. He had returned to his regular self, finally got respect from the people, and most of all, met and got to know his beautiful Shuichi. Oh, it was especially because of Shuichi that he was grateful. All his life he thought that he would forever live in a world of loneliness, that the only ones who would love him didn't really love him for him. But now, now he had Shuichi. That was enough for him.

The entire kingdom, in gratitude for Eiri and Shuichi, decided to dance for them. Riku was the first to dance, then Reiji, Marsh and Mallow danced one that made them laugh. One by one the villagers danced in front of them. Once their dances were over, Ryuichi stood before them.

"Now everyone!" he called out, "It seems like everyone has danced here. Well you are wrong. There is one more dance left!"

"Are you going to dance?" Shuichi asked.

"Well I would, but I feel like the last dance should feel more… inspiring. Kind of… romantic even. And well… I'm incapable with that. The closest I have to a relationship is which Kumagoro but that's just silly. No, I think that the last dance should be done by the prince and princess."

That didn't clear things up for Shuichi. "Prince and princess?"

"Yes," the Sugarplum Kuma replied as he walked towards Eiri and Shuichi. "Prince!" He gestured to Eiri. "Princess!" He gestured to Shuichi. Said couple looked at each other before pushed together by Ryuichi. Everyone cheered for the prince and 'princess' to dance. Shuichi blushed. He wasn't sure if Eiri would want to do anything like that. It was that way when they were in the Field of Flowers.

But then he felt Eiri's hand gently grabbed his own and leading him to the middle of the room. And now we cue in the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy and her Cavalier. Eiri and Shuichi danced ballet across the floor, keeping their movements light and their eyes locked to each other. They twirled and leapt together. Their dance was truly a dance of love.

As he watched them dance, Ryuichi began feeling tears welling up in his eyes. He kept telling himself not to cry, but that couldn't stop him from sobbing with how beautiful the scene was in front of him. Kumagoro randomly pulled out a tissue and lent it to the Sugarplum Kuma to use. Ryuichi thanked him before blowing on it.

The dance ended with Shuichi and Eiri holding each other close. Never once did they look away from each other's eyes, as they didn't want to ruin the beauty they felt by looking into them. After a while, Eiri held Shuichi's gentle hands into his own and began to speak.

"Shuichi," he spoke up, "You… you know… you're different from anyone I've ever seen and… well… someone like you would really be needed here in the Land of Sweets. And also… well, you did help change me back by loving me. What I'm trying to say is… um…"

During the time Eiri had been talking, or more like mumbling, Riku walked over to them. He tugged on Shuichi's tutu to get his attention. "He's asking you to stay here in the Land of Sweets and be his queen!" he replied in joy.

Eiri glared at Riku, his face as red as Santa's hat. "W-What made you think that was what I was I was going to say? I could've been thinking of something completely different."

Shuichi giggled. He could tell that it _was_ what Eiri wanted to say. "Yuki," he spoke up, "All my life, I've always been alone, and not because I didn't have any family or friends. I had a lot of love on that end. However, until now, there was never anyone really important to me nor was there anyone that felt that way about me.

"But then I came here and I met you and saw all the wonderful things of this world. I met lots of people, some that made me smile, some that depressed me. If I want to stay with you I will need to endure it, and that's all I want, to be with you. So yes, yes I will stay here and be your queen."

The people cheered with seeing their new queen form before their eyes. They cheered as Eiri and Shuichi stared into each other's eyes with love. Surely that was a perfect moment in front of them.

But all perfect moments get ruined somehow.

The ceiling above them shattered above them and broke into a million pieces. The people were able to escape getting squashed by the hard surface, but they didn't realize that there was a reason why it broke. Upon hearing familiar laughing, they looked up in the sky to see something they never thought they would see.

Above them on a giant flying bird was Taki.

"Hey!" Riku cried, "I thought you were supposed to be dead. You fell off the cliff."

"Correction!" Taki replied, "You thought I fell off the cliff. But I was saved by this big guy here! If I'm not allowed to have the rule of the kingdom, no one can!"

The bird began attacking everything in the castle, trying to smash the people into pancakes. Eiri held Shuichi in his arms and ran to Ryuichi. "How do we defeat him?" he yelled, "No matter what happens he finds some way to get control."

"This is only one way to get rid of him," the Sugarplum Kuma replied, "He must be sent to another world. Only then can the Land of Sweets be saved. Luckily I can create a portal to send him to any other world you like."

"I don't care what world! Just get him away from the kingdom!"

Without another word, Ryuichi made a portal on the ground to send Taki away. The villagers ran over to some catapults that stood beside the castle and threw ammunition to the bird. After a few tries, they got him, causing him to drop the mouse down into the portal. It seemed like the mouse was gone for good. Out of curiosity, Shuichi slowly walked over to the portal and looked inside of it. It seemed like Taki was really gone for good.

But he couldn't have been more wrong.

When the pink haired boy wasn't looking, he felt something grab his leg and pull him into the portal. Eiri ran over in worry to see Shuichi hanging on with Taki holding onto his leg. The mouse was smirking.

"You really want to get rid of me that bad huh?" he asked, "If that's the case I'm taking her with me."

"You… will… NOT!" Shuichi screamed as he kept kicking the mouse with his foot. Eventually, the mouse managed to let go. But Shuichi's grip was loosening and he was about to fall with him until his hand was caught by Eiri.

"Shuichi! Hang on!" Eiri cried. He was not going to lose Shuichi now.

"Yuki I'm slipping!" Shuichi sobbed, and indeed his hand was slipping out of Eiri's grasp. The prince tried to grab something else of Shuichi to help him up but the only thing he could grab was Shuichi's pendant. Shuichi ended up falling through the portal, hearing only one last thing before everything turned black.

"SHUICHI!"

Shuichi opened his eyes and found himself looking up at a fancy ceiling. He knew he saw it somewhere before, but where? He sat back up and realized where he was.

He was back at Tokyo, at Tohma Seguchi's house.

Shuichi looked down at himself. He was no longer wearing any kind of ballerina outfit. He was back in the clothes he wore before everything started. Had everything been a dream the entire time; that he never shrunk to the size of a mouse and went to the Land of Sweets? He then looked around and noticed that his nutcracker was gone. He swore that he was there in his arms when he went to sleep. He got up and began looking all over for the nutcracker, mostly near the couch. But his beloved doll was nowhere to be found.

"I see you finally woke up!" a familiar voice called out to Shuichi, making him jump. He turned around to see Hiro standing there. "Hey hurry up and get dressed! I heard that Mr. Seguchi's family will be here soon and I'm sure Mr. K will literally kill you if you're not ready."

Shuichi didn't really have a lot to say as Hiro and pulling him and helping him get dressed as he seemed reluctant to do it himself. When he finally got the chance, he asked Hiro if he had seen Yuki around. The auburn haired guitarist stared at the pink haired boy with a raised eyebrow. He was sure that the nutcracker was still with Shuichi so it was a shock to hear that Shuichi didn't know where he was. The pink haired singer then began telling him what happened to him last night, how he had shrunk to the size of a mouse and forced into a ballerina tutu and the adventures he had in the Land of Sweets.

"It sounds like quite a dream you had Shuichi," he replied, "There's obviously no such thing."

"But there is Hiro!" Shuichi cried, "There really was a Land of Sweets and Yuki was supposed to be the ruler of it. But then there was this evil mouse that took over and Yuki had to try to get his kingdom back."

"So this land was ruled by a nutcracker?" Hiro did not believe every word his friend was saying. He was sure it was all just a wild dream he had.

"But that's the thing! Yuki wasn't originally a nutcracker. He was actually a tall handsome golden haired prince that was cursed by this guy and turned into a nutcracker. He was able to come to life because of my love for him and my kiss turned him back into a prince. We then danced together with millions of people watching and then he asked if I would stay and be his queen. But then the mouse came back, there was this portal and the mouse was sucked in but he dragged me with him!" Shuichi then began to realize something. "Maybe he's not here because he didn't want to waste spending time to find me." A tear rolled down his cheek.

Hiro sighed. "Shuichi, why don't you come down and we'll try to get your mind off that dream of yours?"

Shuichi shook his head and turned away so his back was facing the other. "I just want some time alone," Shuichi spoke in a whisper, "Can you please give me some time to myself?"

The auburn haired male didn't say another word. He stood there for a bit in silence before he walked out and left Shuichi to himself.

Shuichi didn't know how long he stayed in that room nor did he really care. He didn't even pay any attention to any of the noise from everywhere else in the house. It was only after he felt a hand on his shoulder did he wake up from his thoughts. He turned around and looked up to see Tohma standing there.

Shuichi sniffed as he tried to stop his tears. "Mr. Seguchi," he sobbed, "I'm so sorry."

"I'm perfectly used to it," Tohma replied, "You always get really emotional at times. A part of me wonders why you have gone to the extreme yet."

"It's not that Mr. Seguchi… I lost Yuki!"

"Yuki?"

"The nutcracker you gave me."

"Oh!" The room became silent once again until Tohma walked to the door. He paused and turned back to the pink haired boy. "By the way Mr. Shindo," he continued, "There's someone down stairs I'd like you to meet."

Shuichi swiftly turned to the blond. "Oh no! Mr. Seguchi, I can't!"

"I did not call you and your band here for Christmas just for you to mope and not interact. Would you rather I put your job on the line if you don't come down?"

The pink haired boy knew he couldn't win. He ended up following Tohma out of the bedroom and into the living room. He kept his head down the entire time and stopped when Tohma stopped. He didn't really want to meet whoever it was. He couldn't keep his mind off of his beloved nutcracker who turned into his handsome prince. Tohma spoke up.

"Mr. Shindo?" said the pink haired boy's boss, "I'd like you to meet my brother in law and famous romance novelist, Eiri Yuki."

Eiri Yuki? Both those names were the ones…! Shuichi looked up and couldn't believe what he saw. Standing in from of him was a tall handsome man with perfectly trimmed hair and skin as white as snow. He wore a buttoned up purple shirt with dress pants and black socks since he couldn't wear shoes inside. But what captivated Shuichi the most was the man's beautiful sharp golden eyes.

"Eiri," Tohma continued, "This is Shuichi Shindo, lead singer of my million dollar band. I trust him to leading Bad Luck to the millions they had become.

The man, Eiri, took Shuichi's hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you!" he replied in a deep sexy voice.

Shuichi just stared at him in disbelief. Was he…? Yet he responded to the golden haired man with a soft: "Ditto!"

Tohma smiled as he saw what was going on. "I'll leave you two alone to chat," he told them before leaving them alone. Shuichi continued to stare into Eiri's golden eyes, asking if the man in front of him was who he thought he was. Eiri replied with a small smile and pulled out something from his pocket. Shuichi took a close look to see the very thing to prove the entire thing had not been a dream.

In Eiri's hand was Shuichi's sliver heart shaped pendant.

The pink haired boy's eyes began to sparkle with joy. "Yuki!" he breathed.

The golden haired male just lifted the pendant up and smirked. "Let's try getting this onto your neck properly," he said, "I'm sure it couldn't stay on if it was done by wooden hands."

Tears began to form in Shuichi's eyes before he nodded with a smile and turned around. Eiri put the pendant onto Shuichi's neck before turning him around and holding him in his arms. So many questions came to the pink haired boy. "Yuki, but how?"

"The Sugarplum Kuma said that the portal took you back to where you were born," he replied, "I wanted to follow you back to this world but I was given two options. Lose you or lose my crown."

"And what did you choose?"

"Well if I'm here then I must've chosen to lose my crown, you think?"

"So you gave up your crown just to be with me?"

"Don't get any ideas!" he growled, "It's not going to happen everyday you know."

"But then who will take over the Land of Sweets with you gone?"

"The very person who should've ruled it in the first place. The Sugarplum Kuma."

"Would that be okay?"

"The Sugarplum Kuma acts like an idiot, but it would be a lie to say he's not wise. He can take care of the kingdom by himself. Besides, he has that pink rabbit thing with him. I'm sure the Land of Sweets would be taken care of him fine."

"But what would happen to you?"

"Didn't you hear Seguchi? When I was sent to this world, my entire past had been written to fit what I would become. To everyone, I am a famous romance novelist who had been writing love stories for six years."

"And my boss's brother in law?"

"He actually _is_ my brother in law. I won't go into any detail but you get the picture."

Shuichi was so happy. Eiri was back with him again. They were going to be together. Suddenly, they began to hear music playing around them. Eiri pulled Shuichi close to him and they slowly began to sway, letting only their eyes do the rest of talking. Their swaying eventually became actual dancing and glided all over, making sure not to bump into any furniture. When their dance was done, they stared into each other's eyes and brought themselves into a sweet romantic kiss.

In the end, there was truth in Tohma Seguchi's words when he said that his gift to Shuichi was the very thing that would make all his dreams come true, for his gift ended up giving him the very thing he had wanted more than anything; true love, to feel another's warmth and to rid his heart of loneliness. This also benefited Eiri too, for that was also what he wanted. Eiri and Shuichi got everything that they wanted and more, and that, they believed, was the greatest gift of all.

The End


End file.
